Twelve years of follow-up for patients treated with ARVs in Senegal (ANRS Cohort 1215): description of population and methodology.

The ANRS Cohort 1215 brought together the first 400 patients receiving antiretroviral treatments through the government program for ARV treatment in Senegal. These people, infected with HIV-1, began their treatment between 1998 and 2002; they were treated with 2 NRTI + 1 PI or NNRTI. This prospective observational cohort received follow-up over the course of 12 years, from 1999 to 2010, and was one of the earliest established cohorts in Africa and providing the longest duration of ART follow-up. A series of interdisciplinary studies was conducted among these patients to assess the medical and social as well as the individual and collective impact of these treatments over the long term. This article presents the cohort's key methodological characteristics.