Substance use patterns and HIV-1 RNA viral load rebound among HIV-positive illicit drug users in a Canadian setting.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Active illicit drug use can present a barrier to the medical management of HIV infection by complicating adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Plasma HIV-1 RNA viral load (VL) rebound, defined as a period of detectable HIV VL following ART and VL suppression, can lead to the generation of viral resistance and potential treatment failure. We sought to investigate the contribution of substance use patterns on rates of VL rebound.

Methods

We used data from the ACCESS study, a long-running community-recruited prospective cohort of HIV-positive people who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada, a setting of universal no-cost HIV treatment. We analysed time to VL rebound (that is, two consecutive observations ≥1,000 copies/ml) after ART initiation and sustained vir

SUBMITTER: Ladak F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6455806 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature