ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We analyzed differences in response to combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) according to sex and geographic origin in a retrospective comparative study of Spanish-born and immigrant patients initiating cART. METHODS: The primary endpoint was time to treatment failure (TTF), defined as virological failure, death, opportunistic infection, interruption of cART, or loss to follow-up. Late diagnosis was defined as a CD4+ cell count ≤ 200 cells/mm3 and/or AIDS at initiation of cART. Survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression. RESULTS: We followed 1,090 patients, of whom 318 were women (45.6% immigrant women [IW]). At initiation of treatment, women had a higher CD4+ count than men (217 vs 190 cells/mm3), a lower viral load (4.7 vs 5 log), and fewer were late starters (49% vs 59%). The adjusted risk of TTF between women and men was not significantly different (hazard ratio [HR], 1.10; 95% CI, 0.79-1.53). TTF was shorter among IW than Spanish-born women (124 weeks [95% CI, 64-183] vs 151 [95% CI, 127-174]) and loss to follow-up was double that of Spanish-born women (25.5% vs 11.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Although response to cART was similar for both sexes, men started treatment later. IW were more frequently lost to follow-up and switched treatment. Measures to improve medical follow-up after initiation of cART should be promoted among this minority group.
Subject(s)
Anti-HIV Agents/administration & dosage , HIV Infections/drug therapy , Adult , CD4 Lymphocyte Count , Cohort Studies , Drug Therapy, Combination , Emigrants and Immigrants , Female , HIV Infections/immunology , HIV Infections/mortality , HIV Infections/virology , Humans , Male , Proportional Hazards Models , Retrospective Studies , Sex Characteristics , Spain , Time Factors , Treatment FailureABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: currently, 12% of the Spanish population is foreign-born, and a third of newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients are immigrants. We determined whether being an immigrant was associated with a poorer response to antiretroviral treatment. METHODS: historical multicenter cohort study of naïve patients starting HAART. The primary endpoint was time to treatment failure (TTF) defined as virological failure (VF), death, opportunistic disease, treatment discontinuation (D/C), or missing patient. Secondary endpoints were TTF expressed as observed data (TFO; censoring missing patients) and time to virological failure (TVF; censoring missing patients and D/C not due to VF). A multivariate analysis was performed to control for confounders. RESULTS: a total of 1090 treatment-naïve HIV-infected patients (387 immigrants and 703 autochthonous) from 33 hospitals were included. Most immigrants were from Sub-Saharan Africa (28.3%) or South-Central America/Caribbean (31%). Immigrants were significantly younger (34 y vs. 39 y), more frequently female (37.5% vs. 24.6%), with less HCV coinfection than autochthonous patients (7% vs. 31.3%). There were no differences in baseline viral load (4.95 Log(10) vs. 4.98 Log(10)), CD4 lymphocyte count (193.5/µL vs. 201.5/µL), late initiation of HAART (56.4% vs. 56.0%), or antiretrovirals used. Cox-regression analysis (HR; 95%CI) did not show differences in TTF (0.89; 0.66-1.20), TFO (0.95; 0.66-1.36), or TVF (1.00; 0.57-1.78) between immigrants and autochthonous patients. Losses to follow-up were more frequent among immigrants (17.8% vs. 12.1; p=0.009). Sub-Saharan African patients and immigrant females had a significantly shorter TTF. CONCLUSIONS: the response to HAART among immigrant patients was similar to that of autochthonous patients, although they had a higher rate of losses to follow-up. Sub-Saharan Africans and immigrant females may need particular measures to avoid barriers hindering antiviral efficacy.
