[Risk factors associated with virologic failure in HIV- infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy at a public hospital in Peru].

OBJECTIVE: To describe clinical and biological characteristics of subjects with virologic failure who participated in the sexually transmitted diseases HIV/AIDS National Program from a Peruvian public hospital.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: An exploratory descriptive study was performed with data from subjects older than 18 who started high activity antiretroviral therapy (HAART) between May 2004 and December 2009 and who had a viral load control after 24 weeks of HAART. Virologic failure was defined as a viral load value above 1000 copies/mL on follow up after 24 weeks on HAART.
RESULTS: Of 1478 records of patients on HAART analyzed, the median age was 35 years [IQR, 29-41] and 69.6% were male. Also, virologic failure occurred in 24% and 3.7% died. Of subjects with virologic failure, 9.5% died. On multivariate analysis, age, history of antiretroviral use before starting HAART, change of antiretroviral therapy due to toxicity, opportunistic infections during HAART, level of CD4 + lymphocytes below 100 cells/ml at start of HAART, adherence and clinical stage were independently associated with virologic failure. In the group of patient with no history of antiretroviral use before starting HAART, age, opportunistic infections during HAART were associated with virologic failure.
CONCLUSION: This study identified factors associated with virologic failure. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether the use of these factors can help to identify prospectively patients at high risk of failure, and to design interventions aimed to reduce this risk.