Course of HIV disease does not depend on risk group: 7.5-year follow-up in 296 patients.

Several reports on the course and progression of HIV infection with regard to the mode of transmission have yielded different results. Since comparative studies of homosexuals and intravenous drug abusers are rare, we wanted to determine the course of HIV infection and survival in an HIV-seropositive patient cohort in a retrospective study at a single tertiary care referral centre. Two hundred and ninety-six HIV patients infected by one of the three predominant modes of HIV transmission (male homosexual contact, n = 193; injecting drug use, n = 64; or heterosexual contact, n = 39) were analysed. Using multivariate Cox regression analysis the overall survival did not depend on the patient's risk group. However, with regard to antiretroviral therapy, monotherapy was shown to shorten patients' lives, whereas only triple-therapy led to prolonged survival, when treatment usage was incorporated as a time-updated covariate. The course of HIV disease in a cohort study outside of clinical trials seems not to depend on the mode of transmission.