Antiretroviral regimen change among people infected with HIV: evidence from a cross-sectional study in China

Abstract

Abstract Background: The rate of death among people living with HIV/AIDS has decreased significantly as a result of treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). However, the issues of drug induced toxicities and complexity of current HAART regimens has remained of great concern. The aim of this study was to determine factors influencing antiretroviral regimen changes among people living with HIV/AIDS in China. Methods: This retrospective study collected data through face-to-face interviews with people living with HIV/AIDS who were receiving HAART, and gathered relevant information from infectious disease hospitals. The following information were collected: social-demographic characteristics, antiretroviral therapies, CD4 cell counts, virus loads, reasons for changing medication and other related data. Mean and percentages were used to describe the frequency of regimen change among patients, and binary logistic regression was employed to test the factors influencing regimen change. Results: 1,123 people who had experienced regimen change were included in the analysis. On average, patients remained on HAART for 10.2 months before changing regimen, and the average CD4 cell count and viral load (VL) were 383.1 cells/μl and 28,132.4 copies/mL respectively when changing regimen. The reasons for modification were determined as treatment failure (52.5%), adverse reactions (32.3%), and other reasons including pregnancy (15.2%). There are significant differences in regimen change among people with different genders (P Conclusion: Treatment failure was the main reason for the change of HAART regimen. Males, drug users, people on long-term medication and those with lower initial CD4 cell counts when starting HAART were most likely to change regimen.