Although early initiation of antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients after a diagnosis of Pneumocystis pneumonia increased after ACTG 5164 (7.4%–50.0%), a subsequent implementation and dissemination initiative optimized uptake of early antiretroviral therapy as clinically routine (50.0%–80.3%).

Background. Diffusion, dissemination, and implementation of scientific evidence into routine clinical practice is not well understood. The Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Protocol 5164 showed that early antiretroviral therapy (ART; ie, within 14 days) after diagnosis of an opportunistic infection improved clinical outcomes, compared with later initiation. Subsequently, the San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) HIV/AIDS Service performed the SFGH 5164 Initiative to disseminate and implement the findings of ACTG 5164.

Methods. We evaluated patients who received a diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) from 1 January 2001 through 30 March 2011. Survival analyses were used to assess changes in the time to initiation of ART after PCP, and logistic regression was used to evaluate changes in the odds of early ART (ie, within 14 days) because of ACTG 5164 and SFGH 5164 Initiative.

Results. Among 162 patients, the adjusted hazard of ART initiation increased by 3.05 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.86–5.02) after ACTG 5164 and by 4.89 (95% CI, 2.76–8.67) after the SFGH Initiative, compared with before ACTG 5164. When compared with before ACTG 5164, the proportion of patients who received ART within the 14 days after PCP diagnosis increased from 7.4% to 50.0% (P < .001) after ACTG 5164 and from 50.0% to 83.0% (P = .02) after the SFGH 5164 Initiative.

Conclusions. Diffusion of findings from of a randomized trial changed practice at an academic medical center, but dissemination and implementation efforts were required to establish early ART at acceptable levels. Early ART initiation can be achieved in real-world patient populations.

Sufficient drug exposure is crucial for maintaining durable responses to HIV treatments. However, monitoring drug exposure using single blood samples only provides short-term information and is highly subject to intra-individual pharmacokinetic variation. Drugs can accumulate in hair over a long period of time, so hair drug levels can provide drug exposure information over prolonged periods. We now report on a specific, sensitive and reproducible LC-MS/MS method for measuring nevirapine (NVP), a widely used antiretroviral drug, levels in human hair using even a single short strand of hair. Hair samples are cut into small segments and drug is extracted in methanol/trifluoroacetic acid (v/v, 9:1) shaken at 37°C in a water bath overnight, followed by liquid-liquid extraction under alkaline conditions. The extracted samples are then separated on a BDS-C18 column with mobile phase composed as 50% acetonitrile containing 0.15% acetic acid and 4 mM ammonium acetate with an isocratic elution for a total run time of 3 min. and detected by triple quadrupole electrospray multiple reaction mode at precursor/product ion at 267.0>225.9 m/z. Deuterated nevirapine-d5 was used as internal standard. This method was validated from 0.25 to 100 ng/mg using 2 mg hair samples. The accuracies for spiked NVP hair control samples were 98–106% with coefficients of variation (CV) less than 10%. The CV for incurred hair control samples was less than 7%. The extraction efficiency for incurred control hair samples was estimated at more than 95% by repeated extractions. This method has been successfully applied to analyze more than 1000 hair samples from participants in a large ongoing cohort study of HIV-infected participants. We also showed that nevirapine in human hair can easily be detected in a single short strand of hair. This method will allow us to identify drug non-adherence using even a single strand of hair.

Context

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected individuals frequently have consumed garlic, a popular complementary supplement. Researchers rarely have studied garlic’s association with antiretroviral therapies, however, even though that association is very relevant clinically.

Objective

To examine associations of supplemental use of garlic with highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) adherence level and HAART effectiveness (HIV viral load and CD4+ cell counts) in HIV-infected women.

Design

The research team carried out a self-controlled, longitudinal study nested within the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). The team used a paired study design that allowed participants to serve as their own controls. The team first identified all of the study’s visits in which the participant self-reported the use of a garlic supplement since her last visit (index visit). Then for each index visit, the team identified a matching visit (a control visit) using the following criteria: (a) the visit must be one for the same participant in which that participant reported no garlic supplementation; (b) the visit must immediately precede the index visit (less than 1 year apart); and (c) at the time of the control visit, the participant must have been using antiretroviral therapy identical to that used at the time of the index visit.

Participants

Participants were persons using garlic supplementation who already were participants in the WIHS.

Outcome Measures

The research team used a logistic regression model to examine the association between garlic supplementation and HAART adherence level. The team used a mixed linear model to examine the association of garlic supplementation with HIV viral load and CD4+ cell counts.

Results

From October 1994 to April 2009, 390 HIV-infected women in the WIHS made 1112 visits at which they reported using garlic supplements. Seventy-seven HIV-infected women using HAART met the research team’s selection criteria and contributed 99 pairs of visits for the study. Among the women who used garlic supplements, 22% were 50 years and older; 58% were black and non-Hispanic; and 23% had less than a high-school education. Neither use of garlic supplementation nor reasons for using garlic supplements were significantly associated with the HAART adherence level, HIV viral load, or CD4+ cell counts; however, “use garlic as needed,” a potential marker of a disease state, was significantly associated with higher viral load (P = .0003).

Conclusion

Short-term garlic supplementation did not impact HAART adherence level, HIV viral load, and CD4+ cell counts.

In a longitudinal study of outcomes on atazanavir-based therapy in a large cohort of HIV-infected women, hair levels of atazanavir were the strongest independent predictor of virologic suppression. Hair antiretroviral concentrations may serve as a useful tool in HIV care.

Background. Adequate exposure to antiretrovirals is important to maintain durable responses, but methods to assess exposure (eg, querying adherence and single plasma drug level measurements) are limited. Hair concentrations of antiretrovirals can integrate adherence and pharmacokinetics into a single assay.

Methods. Small hair samples were collected from participants in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), a large cohort of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected (and at-risk noninfected) women. From 2003 through 2008, we analyzed atazanavir hair concentrations longitudinally for women reporting receipt of atazanavir-based therapy. Multivariate random effects logistic regression models for repeated measures were used to estimate the association of hair drug levels with the primary outcome of virologic suppression (HIV RNA level, <80 copies/mL).

Results. 424 WIHS participants (51% African-American, 31% Hispanic) contributed 1443 person-visits to the analysis. After adjusting for age, race, treatment experience, pretreatment viral load, CD4 count and AIDS status, and self-reported adherence, hair levels were the strongest predictor of suppression. Categorized hair antiretroviral levels revealed a monotonic relationship to suppression; women with atazanavir levels in the highest quintile had odds ratios (ORs) of 59.8 (95% confidence ratio, 29.0–123.2) for virologic suppression. Hair atazanavir concentrations were even more strongly associated with resuppression of viral loads in subgroups in which there had been previous lapses in adherence (OR, 210.2 [95% CI, 46.0–961.1]), low hair levels (OR, 132.8 [95% CI, 26.5–666.0]), or detectable viremia (OR, 400.7 [95% CI, 52.3–3069.7]).

Conclusions. Antiretroviral hair levels surpassed any other predictor of virologic outcomes to HIV treatment in a large cohort. Low antiretroviral exposure in hair may trigger interventions prior to failure or herald virologic failure in settings where measurement of viral loads is unavailable. Monitoring hair antiretroviral concentrations may be useful for prolonging regimen durability.

Background

In resource-limited settings, many patients, with no prior PI treatment on a second-line, high genetic barrier, ritonavir boosted protease inhibitor (PI) containing regimen have virologic failure.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional survey to investigate the aetiology of virologic failure in two public health antiretroviral clinics in South Africa documenting the prevalence of virologic failure (HIV RNA load > 500 copies/ml) and genotypic antiretroviral resistance; and lopinavir hair and plasma concentrations in a nested case-control study.

Results

Ninety three patients treated with a second-line regimen including lopinavir boosted with ritonavir were included, of whom 50 (25 cases, with virologic failure and 25 controls) were included in a nested case control study. Of 93 patients 37(40%) had virological failure, only 2 of which had had major protease inhibitor mutations. The negative predictive values: probability of failure with lopinavir plasma concentration > 1μg/mL or hair concentrations > 3.63ng/mg for virologic failure were 86% and 89%, and positive predictive values of low concentrations 73% and 79%, respectively, whereas all virologic failures with HIV RNA loads above 1000 copies/ml, of patients without protease inhibitor resistance, could be explained by either having a low lopinavir concentration in plasma or hair.

Conclusions

Most patients who fail a LPV/r regimen, in our setting, have poor lopinavir exposure. A threshold plasma lopinavir concentration (indicating recent LPV/r use) and/or hair concentration (indicating longer term lopinavir exposure) are valuable in determining the aetiology of virologic failure and identifying patients in need of adherence counselling or resistance testing.

Background

The extended use of antiretroviral drugs among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–seropositive individuals underscores the need for a comprehensive evaluation of therapy-associated clinical symptoms.

Methods

Beginning in April 2000, 364 HIV-seronegative and 1256 HIV-seropositive women enrolled in a multicenter cohort study reported clinical symptoms that included abdominal pain, diarrhea, anorexia, nausea and/or vomiting, myalgias, fatigue, fever, body fat redistribution, dizziness, headaches, paresthesias, xerostomia, nephrolithiasis, and rash. We examined the prevalence of symptoms with respect to HIV infection and the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), using data-correlation models.

Results

In the 6 months before a study visit, 49% of HIV-seronegative women, 67% of HIV-seropositive women not receiving therapy, and 69% of HIV-seropositive women receiving HAART reported any clinical symptom. The odds ratios (ORs) for reporting any symptom were 1.4 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1–1.8) for women who changed HAART regimens and 0.9 (95% CI, 0.7–1.1) for women reporting stable HAART use, compared with those reporting no therapy use. Significant findings (P < .05) for particular symptoms were an increased odds of diarrhea, nausea and/or vomiting, body fat redistribution, myalgias, and paresthesias, when data for women who changed HAART regimens were compared with those for women not receiving therapy. The OR for reporting any symptom was 1.5 (95% CI, 1.2–1.9) for women who switched HAART regimens and 1.6 (95% CI, 1.3–1.9) for women who discontinued HAART, compared with those reporting stable HAART use.

Conclusions

Our findings confirm the high prevalence of clinical symptoms among HIV-seropositive women who changed HAART regimens. The high prevalence of symptoms among HIV-seronegative women and HIV-seropositive women not receiving therapy demonstrates that caution should be used when attributing the occurrence of symptoms entirely to HAART.

Our knowledge of pharmacogenetic variability in diverse populations is scarce, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. To bridge this gap in knowledge, we characterised population frequencies of clinically relevant pharmacogenetic traits in two distinct South African population groups. We genotyped 211 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (tagSNPs) in 12 genes that influence antiretroviral drug disposition, in 176 South African individuals belonging to two distinct population groups residing in the Western Cape: the Xhosa (n = 109) and Cape Mixed Ancestry (CMA) (n = 67) groups. The minor allele frequencies (MAFs) of eight tagSNPs in six genes (those encoding the ATP binding cassette sub-family B, member 1 [ABCB1], four members of the cytochrome P450 family [CYP2A7P1, CYP2C18, CYP3A4, CYP3A5] and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1 [UGT1A1]) were significantly different between the Xhosa and CMA populations (Bonferroni p < 0.05). Twenty-seven haplotypes were inferred in four genes (CYP2C18, CYP3A4, the gene encoding solute carrier family 22 member 6 [SLC22A6] and UGT1A1) between the two South African populations. Characterising the Xhosa and CMA population frequencies of variant alleles important for drug transport and metabolism can help to establish the clinical relevance of pharmacogenetic testing in these populations.

Abstract

To determine prevalence and predictors of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use disclosure to health care providers and whether CAM use disclosure is associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) adherence among HIV-infected women, we analyzed longitudinal data collected between October 1994 and March 2002 from HIV-infected CAM-using women enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Repeated measures Poisson regression models were constructed to evaluate associations of selected predictors with CAM use disclosure and association between CAM use disclosure and HAART adherence. A total of 1377 HIV-infected women reported CAM use during study follow-up and contributed a total of 4689 CAM-using person visits. The overall prevalence of CAM use disclosure to health care providers was 36% across study visits. Women over 45 years old, with a college education, or with health insurance coverage were more likely to disclose their CAM use to health care providers, whereas women identified as non-Hispanic Black or other ethnicities were less likely to communicate their CAM usage. More health care provider visits, more CAM domains used, and higher health care satisfaction scores had significant relationships with increased levels of CAM use disclosure. Restricting analysis to use of herbal or nonherbal medications only, similar results were obtained. Compared to other CAM domains, mind–body practice had the lowest prevalence of CAM use disclosure. Additionally, CAM use disclosure was significantly associated with higher HAART adherence. From this study, we showed that a high percentage of HIV-infected women did not discuss their CAM use with health care providers. Interventions targeted towards both physicians and patients may enhance communication of CAM use, avoid potential adverse events and drug interactions, and enhance HAART adherence.

Background

Small intensive pharmacokinetic (PK) studies of medications in early-phase trials cannot identify the range of factors that influence drug exposure in heterogeneous populations. We performed PK studies in large numbers of HIV-infected women on nonnucleoside-reverse-transcriptase-inhibitors (NNRTIs) under conditions of actual use to assess patient characteristics that influence exposure and evaluated the relationship between exposure and response.

Methods

225 women on NNRTI-based antiretroviral regimens from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) were enrolled into 12 or 24-hour PK studies. Extensive demographic, laboratory and medication covariate data was collected before and during the visit to be used in multivariate models. Total NNRTI drug exposure was estimated by area-under-the-concentration-time curves (AUC).

Results

Hepatic inflammation and renal insufficiency were independently associated with increased nevirapine (NVP) exposure in multivariate analyses; crack cocaine, high fat diets, and amenorrhea were associated with decreased levels (n=106). Higher efavirenz (EFV) exposure was seen with increased transaminase, albumin levels, and orange juice consumption; tenofovir use, increased weight, being African-American and amenorrhea were associated with decreased exposure (n=119). With every 10-fold increase in NVP or EFV exposure, participants were 3.3 and 3.6 times as likely to exhibit virologic suppression, respectively. Patients with higher drug exposure were also more likely to report side effects on therapy.

Conclusions

Our study identifies and quantitates previously unrecognized factors modifying NNRTI exposure in the “real-world” setting. Comprehensive PK studies in representative populations are feasible and may ultimatley lead to dose optimization strategies in patients at risk for failure or adverse events.

Abstract

Our objective was to describe the association that childcare burden, household composition, and health care utilization have with adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) among women in the United States. The primary outcome was 95% or more adherence to HAART evaluated at 10,916 semiannual visits between October 1998 and March 2006 among 1419 HIV-infected participants enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. HAART adherence levels of 95% or more were reported at 76% of the semiannual visits. At only 4% of the person-visits did women report either quite a bit or extreme difficulty in caring for child; at 52% of the person-visits women reported at least one child 18 years of age or older living in the household. We found a one-unit increase in the difficulty in caring for children (childcare burden was assessed on a 5-point scale: not difficult [1] to extremely difficult [5]) was associated with a 6% decreased odds of 95% or more HAART adherence (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.94; p = 0.07). Each additional child 18 years of age or less living in the household was associated with an 8% decreased odds of 95% or more adherence (adjusted OR = 0.92, p = 0.03). Both the number and type of adult living in the household, as well as health care utilization were not associated with HAART adherence. Greater child care burden and number of children 18 years old or younger living in household were both inversely associated with HAART adherence. Assessing patients' difficulties in caring for children and household composition are important factors to consider when addressing adherence to HAART.

Objective

Antiretroviral (ARV) therapies fail when behavioral or biologic factors lead to inadequate medication exposure. Currently available methods to assess ARV exposure are limited. Levels of ARVs in hair reflect plasma concentrations over weeks to months and may provide a novel method for predicting therapeutic responses.

Design/methods

The Women's Interagency HIV Study, a prospective cohort of HIV-infected women, provided the basis for developing and assessing methods to measure commonly-prescribed protease inhibitors (PIs) - lopinavir (LPV) and atazanavir (ATV) - in small hair samples. We examined the association between hair PI levels and initial virologic responses to therapy in multivariate logistic regression models.

Results

ARV concentrations in hair were strongly and independently associated with treatment response for 224 women starting a new PI-based regimen. For participants initiating LPV/RTV, the odds ratio (OR) for virologic suppression was 39.8 (95%CI 2.8–564) for those with LPV hair levels in the top tertile (>1.9ng/mg) compared to the bottom (≤0.41ng/mg) when controlling for self-reported adherence, age, race, starting viral load and CD4, and prior PI experience. For women starting ATV, the adjusted OR for virologic success was 7.7 (95%CI 2.0-29.7) for those with hair concentrations in the top tertile (>3.4ng/mg) compared to the lowest (≤1.2ng/mg).

Conclusions

PI levels in small hair samples were the strongest independent predictor of virologic success in a diverse group of HIV-infected adults. This noninvasive method for determining ARV exposure may have particular relevance for the epidemic in resource-poor settings due to the ease of collecting and storing hair.

Our objective was to describe the association that childcare burden, household composition, and health care utilization have with adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) among women in the United States. The primary outcome was 95% or more adherence to HAART evaluated at 10,916 semiannual visits between October 1998 and March 2006 among 1419 HIV-infected participants enrolled in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. HAART adherence levels of 95% or more were reported at 76% of the semiannual visits. At only 4% of the person-visits did women report either quite a bit or extreme difficulty in caring for child; at 52% of the person-visits women reported at least one child 18 years of age or older living in the household. We found a one-unit increase in the difficulty in caring for children (childcare burden was assessed on a 5-point scale: not difficult [1] to extremely difficult [5]) was associated with a 6% decreased odds of 95% or more HAART adherence (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=0.94; p=0.07). Each additional child 18 years of age or less living in the household was associated with an 8% decreased odds of 95% or more adherence (adjusted OR=0.92, p=0.03). Both the number and type of adult living in the household, as well as health care utilization were not associated with HAART adherence. Greater child care burden and number of children 18 years old or younger living in household were both inversely associated with HAART adherence. Assessing patients’ difficulties in caring for children and household composition are important factors to consider when addressing adherence to HAART.

A highly sensitive and selective method using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) was developed and validated for the measurement of three antiretroviral agents, efavirenz, lopinavir and ritonavir, in human hair. Hair samples from adherent HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapies were cut into about 1 mm length segments and drugs were extracted by first shaking the samples with methanol in a 37°C water bath overnight (>14 h), followed by methyl tert-butyl ether/ethyl acetate (1:1) extraction under weak alkaline conditions. The extracted lopinavir and ritonavir were separated by reversed-phase chromatography and detected by tandem mass spectrometry in electrospray positive ionization mode with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM), while efavirenz was monitored in negative ionization MRM mode. This method was validated from 0.01 to 4.0 ng/mg hair for ritonavir and 0.05–20 ng/mg hair for lopinavir and efavirenz by using 2 mg of a human hair sample. The interday and intraday assay precision (coefficients of variation, CV) for spiked quality control (QC) samples at low, medium and high concentrations were within 15% and accuracy ranged from 89% to 110%. Assay reproducibility was also demonstrated by analysis of incurred hair QC samples (CV <14%). No significant matrix ionization suppression was observed. This developed method allowed for the monitoring of these target medications in the hair samples of HIV-infected women on antiretroviral therapy in an observational study using small amounts of hair.

Objective

To assess whether complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is associated with the timing of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) initiation among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected participants of the Women’s Interagency HIV Study.

Study Methods

Prospective cohort study between January 1996 and March 2002. Differences in the cumulative incidence of HAART initiation were compared between CAM users and non–CAM users using a logrank test. Cox regression model was used to assess associations of CAM exposures with time to HAART initiation.

Main Outcome and Exposures

Study outcome was time from January 1996 to initiation of HAART. Primary exposure was use of any CAM modality before January 1996, and secondary exposures included the number and type of CAM modalities used (ingestible CAM medication, body practice, or spiritual healing) during the same period.

Results

One thousand thirty-four HIV-infected women contributed a total of 4987 person-visits during follow-up. At any time point, the cumulative incidence of HAART initiation among CAM users was higher than that among non–CAM users. After adjustment for potential confounders, those reporting CAM use were 1.34 times (95% confidence interval: 1.09, 1.64) more likely to initiate HAART than non–CAM users.

Conclusion

Female CAM users initiated HAART regimens earlier than non–CAM users. Initiation of HAART is an important clinical marker, but more research is needed to elucidate the role specific CAM modalities play in HIV disease progression.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this work was to evaluate whether living with children adversely affects adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected women.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

We conducted a prospective cohort study between October 1998 and September 2005. The study outcome was ≥95% adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy evaluated at 5832 semiannual visits among 1366 HIV-infected women in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. The primary exposure defined at the visit immediately before outcome ascertainment was the number of children ≤18 years of age reported living in the household.

RESULTS

The percentage of women who reported ≥2 children in the household who also reported ≥95% adherence ranged from 68% to 75% compared with adherence when either 1 child or no children were reported. Each additional child reported living in the household was associated with a 6% decrease in the odds of ≥95% adherence.

CONCLUSION

The impact of living with a child on the ability to take medications by HIV-infected women has not been examined thoroughly. Our data suggest that adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy is inversely associated with the number of children living in the household.