Background: Few UK studies have systematically investigated which antiretroviral therapy (ART) combinations HIV-infected people are commenced on, when they start and reasons for stopping or changing their regimens.
Objective: To describe when HIV-infected ART-naive patients started first-, second- or third-line triple ART, classes of drugs prescribed and whether stopping ART was associated with virological, immunological or clinical indicators of treatment failure.
Design: A multicentre prospective open cohort study, employing the National Prospective Monitoring System on the use, cost and outcome of HIV service provision in UK hospitals-HIV Health-economics Collaboration (NPMS-HHC).
Setting: Five hundred and eighty-five ART-naive patients seen in one London and two non-London HIV clinics between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 1999.
Results: Of 4,044 HIV-infected individuals seen, 585 (15%) were ART naive. Median time interval (interquartile range, IQR) between HIV diagnosis and starting triple ART was 800 (63-2,094) days. Median CD4 count when first diagnosed with HIV infection was 278 (IQR 127-481) cells/ micro L which dropped to 190 (IQR 86-297) cells/ micro L when starting triple ART. Of these 585 patients, 162 started second-line and 46 third-line ART during the study period. Of those patients who stopped ART, 51% did not have evidence of virological, immunological or clinical indicators of therapy failure.
Conclusions: Reasons for the delay between diagnosis of HIV infection and starting ART are varied. The large proportion of individuals who stopped ART for reasons other than virological, immunological or clinical indicators of therapy failure, are most likely due to drug-associated toxicity. Both of these findings need to be elucidated in greater detail through prospective studies.