Why do AIDS patients die in the era of HAART?

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) dramatically improves survival, persons with AIDS continue to die. This fact generates concern that premature deaths among persons living with AIDS (PLWA) may be preventable. This proposal will investigate factors associated with survival in the era of HAART on a population-level. Specifically, it will assess the impact of the initial, subsequent, and final HAART regimens on survival; the impact of ARV drug resistance on survival; and how clinical practice of primary care physicians of people living PLWA affect survival. The proposed study uses a matched case-control design Where cases are all persons who died of AIDS in San Francisco in 2004 and controls are living AIDS patients matched to the same stage of disease as cases. Through a joint collaboration between Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the San Francisco Department of Public Health, I hope to provide AIDS care physicians, public health officials, and researchers with information that can help maximize the benefits of HAART for all. As a pilot study, this case-control design will identify potential survival factors that are amenable to intervention in larger studies. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]