Simplifying antiretroviral therapy to lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy did not improve quality of life and therapy adherence in pretreated HIV-infected children

AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2014 Mar;30(3):260-5. doi: 10.1089/AID.2013.0204. Epub 2013 Dec 21.

Abstract

We reported quality of life (QOL) and adherence in HIV-infected children after simplifying the antiretroviral regimen by switching to lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy (mLPV/r). HIV-infected children with HIV-RNA <50 copies/ml while using second-line double boosted protease inhibitors were switched to mLPV/r. Primary caregivers completed PACTG QOL questionnaires at weeks 0, 48, 96, and 144. Adherence by pill count was performed at every visit. Thirty-eight pretreated HIV-infected Thai children were enrolled. The median (IQR) age was 11.5 (10.2-13.2) years and 53% were female. At enrollment, 34 used LPV/r+saquinavir and four used LPV/r+indinavir. The median (IQR) CD4% was 27 (23-30)%. At week 144, QOL scores were similar to baseline for all domains. A transient increase in the symptoms domain score was seen at week 96 (p=0.01), whereas the physical resilience domain score was decreased at weeks 48 and 96 (both p<0.05). Despite the mean number of pills decreasing from 7.9 pills/day before and 3.7 pills/day after mLPV/r (p<0.001), there were no differences over time in adherence rates by pill count and proportion of children with poor adherence (all p>0.05). Our study did not demonstrate improvement of QOL scores and adherence rates by pill count in pretreated HIV-infected children after simplification of the antiretroviral regimen to lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Anti-Retroviral Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active / methods*
  • Child
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy*
  • Humans
  • Lopinavir / therapeutic use*
  • Male
  • Medication Adherence / statistics & numerical data*
  • Quality of Life*
  • Ritonavir / therapeutic use*
  • Thailand

Substances

  • Anti-Retroviral Agents
  • Lopinavir
  • Ritonavir