Immunological and virological condition of adult patients with HIV infection at the beginning of antiretroviral therapy at Carlos van Buren Hospital. Comparison of 2013 and 2015 periods

Abstract

Introduction: Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in HIV patients has shown reduction in morbidity and mortality, and decrease in contagious risk. International recommendations include early initiation of ART, irrespectively of CD4 cell count. Objective: To describe the impact of ART initiation in CD4 cell count and viral load at the end of the first year of HIV treatment, for patients who entered the program at 2013 and 2015. Methodology: Descriptive study. The sample comprehends all patients who started their ART treatment in the indicated years, at HCVB. Results: 78 and 100 patients initiated ART treatment in 2013 and 2015, respectively. In 2013, 48 out of 78 patients (61.5%), and in 2015, 55 (55%) patients started therapy with CD4 > 200 cell/mm3. The follow-up in the first group resulted on 43 (55%) patients with an undetectable CV at the end of first year of treatment, meanwhile in the second group 72% achieved this target (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Early ART initiation increased the proportion of patients with undetectable CV. However, we must improve strategies to optimize results.