Although a decrease in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related mortality has been documented in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era, there are no published data comparing specific causes of death between pre-HAART and HAART era in Korea. Mortality and cause of death were analyzed in three treatment periods; pre-HAART (1990-1997), early-HAART (1998-2001), and late-HAART pe...

BACKGROUND Several studies of children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection have demonstrated sustained increases in CD4+ cell count, even when virological failure has occurred after receipt of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), but these studies were of limited duration. Moreover, the CD4+ cell count threshold at which antiretroviral treatment should be initiated...

BACKGROUND Herpes zoster (HZ) is common among HIV-infected individuals, but the impacts of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and HAART adherence on HZ risk have not been well studied. METHODS The effects of HAART and HAART adherence on HZ incidence were evaluated by comparing HIV-infected women on HAART (HAART use group) with the HIV-infected women remaining HAART naïve (HAART naïv...

BACKGROUND Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and its treatment cause a range of hematological abnormalities. Anemia is one of the commonly observed hematologic manifestations in HIV positive persons and it has multifactorial origin. OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of anemia in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) naïve and HAART experienced H...

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been shown to be effective in different populations, but data among injection drug users are limited. Human immunodeficiency virus-infected injection drug users recruited into the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Link to Intravenous Experiences (ALIVE) Study as early as 1988 were tested semiannually to identify their first CD4-positive T-lympho...

BACKGROUND The principal goal of HAART is sustained viral load (VL) suppression resulting in immune reconstitution and improved HIV outcomes. We studied the factors associated with 10 years of continuous VL suppression on HAART in the US Military HIV Natural History Study. METHODS Participants with continuous VL suppression (CS, n = 149) were compared to those who did not have continuous vira...

BACKGROUND The introduction and widespread use of combination antiretroviral therapy referred to as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the mid 1990's, has led HIV-infected individuals to experience a dramatic decline in immunodeficiency-related events and death. There is growing concern on metabolic complications associated with HIV and HAART which may increase cardiovascular risk ...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy has been associated with a decreased risk of HIV disease progression in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era. The effect of timing of HAART initiation relative to pregnancy on maternal virologic, immunologic and clinical outcomes has not been assessed. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study from 1997-2005 among 112 pregnant HIV-infected women wh...

BACKGROUND In the general population, frailty, a late stage of the aging process, predicts mortality. We investigated whether manifesting a previously defined frailty-related phenotype (FRP) before initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) affects the likelihood of developing clinical AIDS or mortality after HAART initiation. METHODS Among 596 HIV-infected men in the Multicenter...

BACKGROUND Among HIV-infected persons initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), early CD4+ lymphocyte count increases are well described. However, whether CD4+ levels continue to increase or plateau after 4-6 years is controversial. METHODS To address this question and identify other determinants of CD4+ response, we analyzed data for 1,846 persons from a prospective HIV milita...