Objective: To estimate the change in survival of patients with AIDS-related progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), in relation to the introduction of protease inhibitors (PI).
Design: The French Hospital Database on HIV (FHDH) is a prospective cohort of 70 224 HIV-infected subjects. This study included the patients diagnosed with PML between 1 July 1995 and 30 June 1997. PML diagnosis was both presumptive and confirmed. We compared the survival probability according to the diagnosis period (period 1 or 2, before or after introduction of PI in France on 1 April 1996). Cox's model was used to calculate the relative hazards of death according to the antiretroviral regimen.
Results: The study included 246 patients, 109 diagnosed during period 1 and 137 during period 2. In all, 131 patients received an antiretroviral combination that included PI. By 31 December 1997, a total of 131 deaths had been reported. The probability of survival at 6 months for patients from period 2 was nearly twice as high as for patients from period 1 (60.5 versus 34.5%). In comparison with patients receiving no treatment, the risk of death in patients on combination therapy not including PI was reduced by 38% [relative hazard (RH) 0.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.41; 0.95), P = 0.026] and in patients on combination therapy with PI, by 63% [RH 0.37, 95% CI (0.22; 0.64), P = 0.0004].
Conclusion: This study of a large cohort of patients diagnosed with PML (n = 246), provides evidence that a combination antiretroviral regimen, especially one including PI, confers marked survival benefits.