The risk for AIDS-defining malignancies is greater among HIV-infected patients who interrupt ART than among those who receive continuous treatment.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces the rate of AIDS-related malignancies. Does interrupting ART increase risk for cancer? Previously published data from the SMART study show that patients randomized to episodic ART guided by CD4-cell count (drug conservation [DC] group) have higher rates of death and opportunistic infections than do patients who receive continuous ART (viral suppression [VS] group) (see Journal Watch Infectious Diseases Nov 29 2006). Now, SMART investigators have examined malignancy rates in these two groups.
During follow-up of 5472 participants (average duration, 16 months), the rate of AIDS-defining malignancies was higher in the DC group than in the VS group (3.0 vs. 0.5 per 1000 person-years; hazard ratio, 5.5; P=0.03…
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DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; ID Images (idimages.org); Infectious Diseases Society of America COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines; International Antiviral Society–USA (Guidelines Committee)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesHIV Medicine Association; Infectious Diseases Society of America (Board of Directors)
DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; ID Images (idimages.org); Infectious Diseases Society of America COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines; International Antiviral Society–USA (Guidelines Committee)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesHIV Medicine Association; Infectious Diseases Society of America (Board of Directors)