LIBERTONE R.

The relationship between hepatic tolerance and hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection has not been extensively studied in clinical practice. We assessed the efficacy and safety of raltegravir-based therapy in an Italian cohort of HIV/HCV co-infected patients. One hundred and forty patients with HIV/HCV co-infection initiating raltegravir from...

Muscle alterations ranging from asymptomatic creatine phosphokinase (CPK) increases to rhabdomyolysis and central nervous system (CNS) symptoms have been reported in patients receiving raltegravir. Muscle symptoms and CPK increases were investigated in a cohort of HIV-infected patients receiving raltegravir-based antiretroviral therapy, and...

Background: Dyslipidemia represents a significant non-infectious comorbidity among people living with HIV. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact on lipid profile of switches from an efavirenz (EFV) or protease inhibitor/ritonavir (PI/r)-based regimen to a rilpivirine (RPV) or a once-daily integrase inhibitor-based regimen. Methods: We...

Weight gain and body mass index (BMI) increase are central issues in patients living with HIV who need to minimize the risk of metabolic disease. Information collected through the SCOLTA cohort revealed significant 1-year BMI increase in patients treated with dolutegravir (P = .004), raltegravir (P = .0004), elvitegravir (P = .004), darunavir...

Background: In patients with HIV, immune reconstitution after antiretroviral therapy (ART) is often incomplete. We assessed the probability of patients reaching a CD4/CD8 ratio of 1 or more after the start of ART and its association with the onset of non-AIDS-defining events and death. Methods: We did an analysis of the ICONA cohort, which...

Background: Social determinants are known to be a driving force of health inequalities, even in high income countries. Aim of our study was to determine if these factors can limit antiretroviral therapy (ART) access, outcome and retention in care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Italy. Methods: All ART naïve HIV+ patients (pts) of Italian...

Objectives: Tropism evolution of HIV-1 quasispecies was analysed by ultra-deep pyrosequencing (UDPS) in patients on first-line combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) always suppressed or experiencing virological failure episodes. Methods: Among ICONA patients, two groups of 20 patients on cART for ≥5 years, matched for baseline viraemia and...

Objectives: Our aim was to investigate the durability of different initial regimens in patients starting ART with CD4+ counts <200 cells/mm3 and HIV-RNA >5 log10 copies/mL. Methods: This was a retrospective study of HIV-infected patients prospectively followed in the ICONA cohort. Those who started ART with boosted protease inhibitors (bPIs),...

Objective To estimate the incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroconversion and the risk of severe fibrosis/cirrhosis in HCV seroconverters among persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Methods We analysed data on 4059 persons with HIV enrolled in a cohort study in Italy. Results Incidence rate of seroconversion was 0.6/100...

Objective: To analyze the association between chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections with type 2 diabetes in HIV-infected patients. Methods: HIV-1-infected patients enrolled in ICONA, a prospective cohort study involving 42 tertiary care centers in Italy, were selected with the following characteristics: for the...