Tolerability of central nervous system symptoms among HIV-1 infected efavirenz users: analysis of patient electronic medical record data.

ABSTRACTEfavirenz (EFV) is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor indicated for treatment of HIV-1 infection. Despite concern over EFV tolerability in clinical trials and practice, particularly related to central nervous system (CNS) adverse events, some observational studies have shown high rates of EFV continuation at one year and low rates of CNS-related EFV substitution. The objective of this study was to further examine the real-world rate of CNS-related EFV discontinuation in antiretroviral therapy naive HIV-1 patients. This retrospective cohort study used a nationally representative electronic medical records database to identify HIV-1 patients ≥12 years old, treated with a 1st-line EFV-based regimen (single or combination antiretroviral tablet) from 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2013. Patients without prior record of EFV use during 6-month baseline (i.e., antiretroviral therapy naive) were followed 12 months post-medication initiation. CNS-related EFV discontinuation was defined as evidence ...