People with HIV continue to experience diarrhea at significant rates, with no apparent abatement in recent years, aidsmap reports.

Reporting their findings at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam (AIDS 2018), researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 38 clinical trials of antiretrovirals (ARVs) conducted at least in part in the United States between 2008 and 2016. They assembled a cohort of more than 21,000 participants of these trials, 21 of which were studies of people starting ARVs for the first time and 17 of which included individuals switching HIV treatment.

The median rate of diarrhea was 17.5 percent among those in the intervention arms of these studies and 17.9 percent in the control arms. Despite the fact that the ARVs studied changed over time, there was no shift in the diarrhea rate between the beginning and end of the period included in the meta-analysis.

Those starting ARVs for the first time had a diarrhea rate of 19.7 percent compared with 13.7 percent among those who had already been on HIV treatment when entering a drug trial.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.

To read the conference abstract, click here.

To read the conference poster, click here.

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