Inadequacies in antiretroviral therapy use among Aboriginal and other Canadian populations

Abstract

We undertook this study to provide a profile of Aboriginal people initiating antiretroviral therapy and their response to treatment. Aboriginal peoples were identified through self-report. Baseline socio-demographics and risk factors were compared between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal participants as were baseline factors associated with two consecutive plasma viral load measures below 500 copies/ml using contingency table analysis. Multivariate survival analysis of the prognostic factors associated with time to two consecutive plasma viral load measures below 500 copies/ml among eligible participants was undertaken to characterize response to antiretroviral therapy. There were 892 participants with available data for this analysis, of those 146 (16%) self-identified as Aboriginal. Aboriginal participants were more likely to be female (p ≤ 0.001), have lower baseline plasma viral loads (p = 0.010), be co-infected with HCV (p < 0.001), live in unstable housing (p ≤ 0.001), and report an income of >10K CDN (p ≤ 0.001) per annum. Aboriginal people were less likely to report men who have sex with men (p ≤ 0.001) and more likely to report injection drug use (p ≤ 0.001) as a risk factor for HIV infection. Aboriginal participants were more likely to receive double versus triple combination antiretroviral therapy (p = 0.002), be less adherent in the first year on therapy (p = 0.001) and to have a physician less experienced with treating HIV (p ≤ 0.001). When these factors were controlled for, Aboriginal people treated with triple combination therapy were as likely to respond and suppress their viral load below 500 copies. In the era of HAART, our results indicate that Aboriginal people living with HIV/AIDS were less likely to receive optimal therapy. However, when Aboriginals did receive triple drug therapy they suppressed just as well as non-Aboriginals.