Comparison of first antiretroviral treatment duration and outcome in HIV, HIV–HBV and HIV–HCV infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection may differentially influence HIV treatment duration and outcome. This was assessed at The Ottawa Hospital Immunodeficiency Clinic in first-time highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) recipients visited between January 2000 and December 2004. Of 968 patients, 526/700 (75%) HIV, 173/230 (75%) HIV–HCV and 30/38 (79%) HIV–HBV-infected patients initiated HAART. Co-infected patients stopped treatment sooner (HBV – 10 months, HCV – 9 months) than HIV mono-infected (17 months) (P<0.001). Injection drug history predicted shorter treatment duration (odds ratio [OR]1.59, P<0.001). Use of non-nucleoside-reverse-transcriptase-inhibitor-containing HAART (OR 0.76, P<0.01) and low-dose ritonavir (<400 mg twice daily)-based HAART (OR 0.83, P = 0.06) predicted longer treatment duration. HCV co-infection did not predict duration of therapy (OR 1.19, P=0.19) once controlled for by these three variables. Poor adherence was a major explanation for eventual ...