Effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy on hospitalization characteristics of HIV-infected patients

In order to determine the impact that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has on inpatients with HIV infection, HIV-infected patients hospitalized from 1994 to 1999 at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Basel, Switzerland, were investigated. During the observation period, 578 HIV-related hospitalizations occurred, and 502 charts from 262 different patients were available for evaluation. Analyses showed significant reductions in hospital mortality (from 13.2% to 6.5%) and length of stay for HIV-related admissions (from 16 to 11 days) in the post-HAART period, and the percentage of AIDS-related admissions decreased from 54.5% to 47.6%. However, the admission of HIV-infected patients to the intensive care unit increased from 6.3% to 11.8%, which could indicate that treating physicians have greater confidence in the outcome of HIV-infected patients due to better therapeutic options. Since the advent of HAART, the yearly number of admissions related to HIV dropped by 49% and HAART was administered often during hospital stay. By the end of the study period, death due to multiple HIV-associated diseases and wasting had disappeared.