Strategies to improve the scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for patients with HIV in Trinidad and Tobago, including the adoption of the "Test and Treat All" policy, have accompanied an increase in the number of patients with pretreatment HIV drug resistance (PDR) in the country. However, the scale of this public health problem is not well established. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of PDR and evaluate its impact on viral suppression among patients with HIV receiving care at a large HIV treatment center in Trinidad and Tobago. We retrospectively analyzed data from the Medical Research Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago of patients newly diagnosed with HIV who had HIV genotyping performed. PDR was defined as having at least one drug-resistant mutation. We assessed the impact of PDR on achieving viral suppression within 12 months of ART initiation, using a Cox extended model. Among 99 patients, 31.3% had PDR to any drug, 29.3% to a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), 3.0% to a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, and 3.0% to a protease inhibitor. Overall, 67.1% of the patients who initiated ART (n = 82) and 66.7% (16/24) of patients with PDR achieved viral suppression within 12 months. We found no significant association between PDR status and achieving viral suppression within 12 months [adjusted hazard ratio: 1.08 (95% confidence interval: 0.57-2.04)]. There is a high prevalence of PDR in Trinidad and Tobago, specifically driven by NNRTI resistance. Although we found no difference in virologic suppression by PDR status, there is an urgent need for an effective HIV response to address the many drivers of virologic failure. Accelerating access to affordable, quality-assured generic dolutegravir and adopting it as the preferred first-line ART therapy are critical.
Keywords: HIV; pretreatment HIV drug resistance; virologic suppression.