13th Annual Conference of the British HIV Association 29 March–1 April 2007, Brighton, UK

ACHIEVING UNDETECTABLE VIRAL LOAD IN TREATMENT-EXPERIENCED HIV PATIENTS: PERCEPTIONS OF A POPULATION OF HIV-TREATING PHYSICIANS IN VIEW OF THE LATEST GUIDELINES

HIV Med 2007; 8(Suppl. 1):14 (abstract no. P19)

Mike Youle¹ and Malte Schutz^2
1Royal Free Hospital Centre for HIV Medicine, London, UK, ²Roche Pharmaceuticals, Nutley, NJ, USA

OBJECTIVE: The DHHS Guidelines Panel recently redefined the goal of therapy in treatment-experienced HIV patients to ‘re-establish maximal virological suppression’. The recommendations of the IAS-USA panel define the virological target for patients with treatment failure as a plasma HIV-1 RNA level <50 copies/mL. The objective of this survey was to evaluate whether and how realistically the new treatment goal of achieving undetectable viral load (VL) is reflected in a population of HIV-treating physicians.

METHODS: This empirical study was based on structured face-to-face interviews conducted with randomly selected HIV physicians attending the HIV 8 Congress in Glasgow, UK, in November 2006. Respondents fulfilled the eligibility criterion HIV-treating physician and received no incentive for the interview.

RESULTS: Of the 250 physicians who completed interviews, 65% were from Europe and managed a mean of 334 HIV patients. Mean 23% of patients were considered treatment-experienced (virologically failed at least three past regimens). Achieving and maintaining an undetectable VL was ranked with a mean score of 3.4 on a scale from 1 to 5 (five extremely realistic and one not at all realistic). About half of the physicians felt that undetectable VL is achievable. Physicians caring for a larger patient population are more likely to agree that undetectable VL is achievable.

CONCLUSION: The differences in perception observed in physicians caring for small or large HIV patient populations are consistent with data from published literature demonstrating that patients cared for by experienced physicians have better expectations and hence better outcomes. Experienced prescribers also are more likely to participate in clinical research, utilize new drugs and adopt new treatment algorithms.

2007-03-29
P19

Copyright © 2007 - British HIV Association (BHIVA) Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the BHIVA Organising Secretariat 1 Mountview Court, 310 Friern Barnet Lane, London N20 0LD