Factors Influencing Regimen Choice Shifting for Positive Women
Women living with HIV are increasingly basing which drugs to take as part of their antiretroviral regimens on social or demographic factors as opposed to biological ones, Aidsmap reports (aidsmap.com, 1/23).
A report published in the January 15 edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases followed 2,700 American HIV-positive women over a ten-year span, broken up into three periods: 1996 to 2000, 2000 to 2002, and 2002 to 2005.
From 1996 to 2002, CD4 count was the major determining factor in choosing which meds to take. Women with a CD4 count higher than 200 were more than twice as likely as women whose count was lower than 200 to start a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) regimen than a protease inhibitor (PI) regimen. However, from 2002 through 2005, demographic factors appeared to play a role in initial regimen choice—black and Latina women, for example, were more likely to initiate a regimen with a PI than a (NNRTI).
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
Woman of the Month is supported by exclusive advertising from Gilead.
Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
