Transmitted antiretroviral resistance in a large HIV directorate 2011-2014: a response

Rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy in those with newly diagnosed HIV infection in London, UK

OBJECTIVES

In July 2016, as a result of patient demand, we introduced a rapid initiation option (RIO) to offer a first medical appointment and antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation within 2 days of HIV diagnosis at 56 Dean Street (56DS) , a combined sexual health and HIV treatment service in London, UK.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective case-note review of patients newly diagnosed with HIV infection at 56DS following the introduction of the new RIO from July to October 2016. In order to assess the effect of the new service on ART uptake, we chose a comparison group of newly diagnosed patients at 56DS from 1 year earlier: July to October 2015.

RESULTS

In the 4 months following RIO introduction, there was a reduction in the median time from HIV diagnosis to the first medical appointment (7 versus 15 days; P < 0.00001) and to ART initiation (8 versus 21 days; P < 0.00001) compared with the same 4-month period 1 year previously. Uptake of ART at first appointment also significantly increased from 60% to 76% (P = 0.0074).

CONCLUSIONS

By increasing our clinic capacity and awareness of staff and patients of the RIO service, we were able to fulfil the aim of the service to offer ART more quickly following HIV diagnosis.

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.