Outcome and Predictors of Failure of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy: One‐Year Follow‐Up of a Cohort of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1–Infected Persons

The outcome and predictors of virologic treatment failure of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) were determined for 271 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected protease inhibitor-naive persons. During a follow-up of 48 weeks after the initiation of HAART, 6.3% of patients experienced at least one new AIDS-defining event, and 3.0% died. Virologic treatment failure occurred in 40% (indinavir, 27%; ritonavir, 30%; saquinavir, 59%; ritonavir plus saquinavir, 32%; chi2, P=.001). Risk factors for treatment failure were baseline plasma HIV-1 RNA (odds ratio OR, 1.70 per log10 copies increase in plasma HIV-1 RNA), baseline CD4 cell count (OR, 1. 35 per 100 CD4 cells/mm3 decrease), and use of saquinavir versus other protease inhibitors (OR, 3.21). During the first year of treatment, 53% of all patients changed (part of) their original HAART regimen at least once. This was significantly more frequent for regimens containing saquinavir (62%; 27% for virologic failure) or ritonavir (64%; 55% for intolerance) as single protease inhibitor.