[Survival of HIV women and HAART therapy]. / Supervivencia de las mujeres infectadas por el VIH tras la aparición del TARGA.

OBJECTIVES: To assess antiretroviral treatment in women with HIV infection, to evaluate the evolution of the disease and to establish the survival rate of these patients. DESIGN: A retrospective study performed from 1985 to December, 2004. Seventy-five women, chosen randomly from all patients attending the Out-patients Department, Arnau de Vilanova Hospital, Spain. All patients were over 18 years of age, with HIV infection and undergoing antiretroviral treatment. Patients were divided into two groups according to the starting date of therapy, before or after the year 1997 when a significant change in antiretroviral therapy took place, referring both to the number of drugs used and their potency. METHODS: A comparison was made regarding the epidemiological and demographic profile, the initial and final treatment, the efficacy of antiretroviral treatment, the evolution of the HIV infection and the survival rate between both groups of patients. RESULTS: Sixty-six point seven per cent (66.7%) of the patients in the first group and 85.2% of patients in the second had negative viral loads at study end. Forty-seven point nine per cent (47.9%) of patients starting treatment before 1997, maintained CD4 lymphocyte counts above 500 cells/mL compared with 59.3% of the patients who started treatment after 1997. There were only 6 deaths, which corresponded to the first group of patients. CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained from our study suggests that antiretroviral treatment is effective in both groups of patients, and has enabled good evolution and lengthened the survival rate.

[Interruption to treatment with combined lopinavir/ritonavir therapy in HIV positive patients]. / Interrupción del tratamiento con la terapia combinada lopinavir/ritonavir en pacientes VIH+.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the extent of interruptions to treatment with therapies which include the combination of lopinavir-ritonavir within the SNS (Spanish National Health System), as well as identify the causes of these interruptions and analyse the factors associated with the same. METHOD: Retrospective cohort of 197 seropositive patients, who began treatment with lopinavir-ritonavir between January 2000 and October 2002. The patients attended the outpatient pharmaceutical care unit and were followed-up until December 2002. Interruptions and their causes were identified and the factors associated with the interruption were analysed using proportional hazard models. RESULTS: The mean follow-up period was 263 days and 38.6% of patients interrupted therapy. The most common causes of interruption were intolerance (30.3%), non-compliance (21.1%) and therapy failure (5.26%). The mean treatment period was 487 days (95% CI: 432 to 542) and 50% of patients who interrupted treatment did so within the first 4 months. No associations were found between patient or treatment characteristics and the risk of interruption. CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of interruptions was lower than those in other observational studies, but greater than those in clinical trials. The significance of the causes of interruption was similar and no factor associated with the risk of interruption was found.