(RxWiki News) Most women living with HIV are in their childbearing years. This makes the effectiveness of their HIV treatment and benefits to their unborn children particularly important.
The AIDS epidemic has been around for 30 years. Now, nearly 16 million women are infected with HIV, the leading cause of disease and death among women during the reproductive age worldwide.
Data on antiretrovirals (ARVs) in women is limited, as they are often under-represented in clinical trials. A European study finds that women on ARVs have the same positive results as men.
"If you are HIV-positive, ask your doctor about ARV therapy."
A retrospective, observational study of 1,294 people collected data from three European databases; France, Germany and Sweden. All participants had received ARV-treatment; 336 females with a median age of 40 and 958 males with a median age of 44.
The results revealed no differences in treatment effect between men (59% effective) and women (63% effective), however this was considered statistically insignificant. This data also verifies other studies which show while women are at an increased risk to discontinue treatment, they are not at a statistically significant risk of treatment failure.
The cohort results also showed that Reyataz is a well-tolerated therapeutic option for both men and women. The safety profile was comparable among men and women and similar to that previously described in clinical trials. Among women, bone density abnormalities presented in less than one percent of participants, diarrhea was reported in 2 percent and lipodystrophy in 5 percent of the cases. Additionally, the safety profile was about the same when comparing men and women.
This study confirms clinical trials that found Reyataz showed durable viral suppression, safety and tolerability profiles for men and women.
These study results were presented in July 2011 at the Sixth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention .
Results are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
