Disparities in Initiation of Combination Antiretroviral Treatment and in Virologic Suppression Among Patients in the HIV Outpatient Study, 2000-2013

Objectives: The National HIV/AIDS Strategy emphasizes virologic suppression (VS) to reduce HIV incidence in the United States. We assessed temporal trends of and disparities in time to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation and HIV VS in a large demographically diverse cohort of HIV-infected patients.

Design: We included antiretroviral-naive HIV Outpatient Study participants from 2000 to 2013 enrolled within 6 months of their HIV diagnosis who attended ≥2 HIV care-related visits.

Methods: We evaluated time from HIV diagnosis to first use of cART, time from HIV diagnosis to VS, and time from first use of cART to VS. Kaplan-Meier time-to-event curves and Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess temporal trends and correlates of initiating cART and achieving HIV VS (<500 copies per milliliter).

Results: Among 1156 HIV Outpatient Study patients [median age, 37 years; 43.2% non-Hispanic/Latino black (NHB), 14.1% Hispanic/Latino], estimated median times from HIV diagnosis to cART initiation and from HIV diagnosis to VS both shortened by >40% during the 13.5-year study period, reaching, respectively, 2.5 and 5.4 months. In multivariable analyses, NHB patients (as compared with non-Hispanic/Latino white) and those who had injected drugs (as compared with those who did not) initiated cART in a less timely fashion. After adjusting for CD4 cell count and viral load at cART initiation, NHB patients and those aged <30 years (compared with ≥40 years) had lower rates of VS.

Conclusions: Despite improvements in HIV treatment over time, patients who were NHB, younger, or used injection drugs had less favorable outcomes.