11th International AIDS Conference Vancouver, British Columbia — July 7-12, 1996

Int Conf AIDS 1996 Jul 7-12; 11:31 (abstract no. LB.B.6046)
Nabulsi AA, Revicki D, Conway D, Maurath C, Mills R, Leonard J; Abbott Park, IL. Fax: (847) 937-1992. E-mail: Azmi.Nabulsi@Abbott.com.

A randomized, double-blind, multi-national clinical trial of a protease inhibitor, ritonavir, plus existing treatment versus medical treatment alone was performed on HIV-infected patients with CD4 counts of less than or equal to 100 cells/L. Patients in both treatment groups were allowed to maintain existing prophylactic regimens and as many as two non-investigational antiretroviral medications. Patients were followed for 6 months after study entry. Health-related quality of life was assessed throughout the clinical trial using the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) HIV Health Survey and the EuroQol. The HIV Health Survey was administered at baseline and every three months, measuring patient functioning and well-bing. The EuroQoL is a multidimensional preference scale with a total summary score on global quality of life. The EuroQoL was administered every study visit. After two weeks of therapy, mean EuroQol total scores demonstrated a decline in the ritonavir group and no change in the non-ritonavir group (see graph below). By week 8, the ritonavir group had improved, and for the remainder of the 24-week follow-up, the ritonavir patients had higher EuroQol total scores compared to the patients on medical treatment alone. In general, mean MOS HIV Health Survey scores declined in both groups over three months of treatment. However, the mean decrease in HIV Health Survey scores for ritonavir was less than the decrease observed for patients not treated with ritonavir. The ritonavir-treated group showed improvements in areas of general health perceptions and role function compared to the control group after 3 months. These findings suggest that the addition of ritonavir to existing antiretroviral therapy in advanced AIDS patients does not decrease health-related quality of life and for some areas of functioning may improve health-related quality of life compared to patients maintained on existing therapy. (Table: see text)

960707
LBB6046

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