Abstract
Objective: We aimed to investigate trends in CD4 cell counts, plasma HIV-RNA levels and the use of antiretroviral treatments, as well as those relationships, among patients with HIV infection through blood products.
Materials and Methods: The data were available from the second quarter of 1993 through the first quarter of 1999. The numbers of patients with HIV infection through blood products were 417 on 1/1/1994 and 604 on 4/1/1997.
Results: The number of patients who developed AIDS (including fatalities) per quarter declined from 8.7 (average from the second quarter of 1993 to the first quarter of 1997) to 1.8 (from the second quarter of 1997 to the first quarter of 1999). The median value of CD4 cell counts decreased from 287 per cubic millimeter in the second quarter of 1993 to 172 in the third quarter of 1996, but increased from 183 in the last quarter of 1996 to 240 in the first quarter of 1999. There was a downward trend in HIV-RNA virus level from 2, 600 copies/ml in the second quarter of 1997 to 685 in the first quarter of 1999. The proportion of patients who were treated with therapeutic regimens that include two reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) and one protease inhibitor (PI) increased from 15.1% to 36.6% during the same period. The relationships between the changes of antiretroviral therapy and the improvements of those parameters were suggested.
Conclusion: The data showed that since 1997, combination therapies including two RTIs and one PI were used increasingly, and both CD4 cell counts and plasma HIV-RNA levels improved in this population. It was suggested that improvements of those parameters were attributable to the increasing use of those regimens.
