Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Current study is aimed to explore and to observe clinical treatment outcomes during HAART therapy among HIV/AIDS patients. METHODS: An observational retrospective study of all patients diagnosed of HIV infection and on HAART therapy from Jan 2007 to Dec 2012 was conducted at infectious disease department of Hospital Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.Data was descriptively analyzed by using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 20). RESULTS: Out of 792 patients that underwent HAART therapy, 607 (76.6%) were male and 185 (23.3%) were female patients. The treatment outcome of the total study population (792) on the basis of recovery of CD4 cells count to the normal range was (≥350 cells/mm3). Out of total patients (792), 645 (81.4%) patients improved their CD4 cells count under the treatment of HAART therapy out of which 488 (61.6%) male and 157 (19.8%) female patients were improved to a normal range of CD4 cells count. On binary logistic regression both Malay (OR 2.32, p < 0.001) and Chinese patients (OR 0.37, p < 0.001) were found to be statistically significant. Patients having age less than 30 years (OR 0.58, p 0.09), with secondary education level (OR 0.44, p 0.001), and Graduate patients (OR 0.50, p 0.09) were also have a signification association with treatment outcomes. Non-smokers (OR 2.16, p 0.001), non-alcoholic (OR 1.42, p 0.05) and non-drug abusers were also found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates the clinical treatment outcomes in non-smokers, non-alcoholics and non-drug abusers HIV patients were higher. Also indicate a significant treatment outcomes on educated patients which may be due to the awareness about the infection. However, a multicenter study with a large sample size may provide us with better understanding of this relationship