Tackling late HIV diagnosis: Lessons from the UK in the COVID-19 era.

INTRODUCTION: Late diagnosis of HIV is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, and an increased risk of non-infectious comorbidities. On a societal level, late diagnosis leads to higher treatment and healthcare costs and is a major driver of HIV transmission. Despite improvements in other areas of the HIV care pathway, late diagnosis remains an individual and public health concern globally. OBJECTIVE: To examine the barriers to HIV testing and highlight successful strategies to improve prompt diagnosis. This review describes the prevalence of late diagnosis in the UK and discusses key factors that contribute to late diagnosis, including the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Late HIV diagnosis is lower in the UK than in most other European countries. In this review, pilot projects and ongoing initiatives that have reduced late diagnosis in the UK are highlighted; moreover, further strategies for improving prompt diagnosis are suggested. CONCLUSIONS: Insufficient testing is the fundamental reason for late HIV diagnosis, with societal, systemic, and individual factors all contributing to inadequate testing. Improving access to testing, removing barriers to health-seeking behaviour, and ensuring all people with HIV indicator conditions are promptly tested are key to reducing the rates of late diagnosis globally.

Comparison of efavirenz and protease inhibitor based combination antiretroviral therapy regimens in treatment-naïve people living with HIV with baseline resistance.

A retrospective cohort analysis comparing the efficacy of boosted protease inhibitor-based and efavirenz-based combination antiretroviral therapy in treatment-naïve people living with HIV with baseline resistance found that efavirenz-based treatment led to a shorter mean time to undetectable viral load. A higher proportion of patients with nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor related baseline resistance mutations in the efavirenz-treatment group achieved an undetectable viral load at both 6 and 12 months post-treatment initiation, compared with the boosted protease-inhibitor-treatment group.Supplementary content: http://links.lww.com/QAD/A930.