Objectives: The authors had for aim to describe demographic, immunovirilogical and therapeutic characteristics of HIV infected patients enrolled in a French clinical cohort.
Study design: A cross-sectional analysis was performed on 30 September 2006, among patients followed in seven French University Medical Centers using the Nadis computerized medical file.
Results: Among 8714 patients enrolled (median age 43 years: 15-86, sex ratio 2.37), sexual transmission was the most frequent route of infection (heterosexual: 39.3%, homosexual: 34.8%). HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) or B (HBV) co-infection rates were at 19.2 and 5.8%, respectively. The number of patients who had a triple infection with HIV-HBV-HCV were 1.7%. CDC aids classification was A: 56.7%, B: 19.6%, C: 23.7%. We observed a higher proportion of female patients and an increase of the median age. The number of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ARV) at the study date were 81.7%, 11.7% were ARV-naive and 6,6% on a treatment interruption. Under ARV, the median CD4 count was 478cells per millimetre cube (1 to 2166) and 84.8% of patients had an undetectable viral load (VL). Among these patients, 10% had a CD4 cell count inferior or equal to 200 per millimetre cube. Patients followed in centers that participated in this study were different regarding sex, transmission routes, and HBV or HCV co-infection rates, but not regarding the proportion of patients with undetectable VL. ARV combination included more frequently protease inhibitors than nonnucleosidic reverse transcriptase (50% versus 26.2%).
Conclusion: Among the 8714 HIV-infected patients on ARV, 85% had a VL inferior or equal to 400 per millilitre, 10% of whom had CD4 cell counts inferior or equal to 200 per millimetre cube. The proportion of patients on ARV with undetectable VL was comparable in centers who participated in this study.