Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of HIV infection in the Spanish VACH Cohort: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND:knowledge of the present features of the HIV epidemic is relevant, especially to develop management programmes directed to poorly controlled patients. OBJECTIVES:to describe the epidemiological and clinical features of HIV infection in a large multicentre cohort. DESIGN:cross-sectional study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:data of the Spanish VACH Cohort of HIV infected patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:a total of 53 variables were included. Descriptive statistics were used to report the results. Bivariable statistics were used to assess variation along time on prescribed antiretroviral treatment and on causes of death. RESULTS:a total of 30,843 patients belonging to most regions of Spain were included: 23,682 (76.78%) were male, mean and standard deviation of age of all patients was 34.03 ± 9.55 years in their first visit and 43.68 ± 10.52 years in their last visit; 12,677 (41.10%) were smokers, 3,521 (11.42%) had diabetes mellitus, 15,351 (49.77%) had acquired HIV via sexual route and 12,714 (41,22%) via parenteral route, 16,057 (52.06%) had positive hepatitis C virus serology. Their median and interquartile range of CD4 lymphocyte count, per cubic millimetre, were: lowest available 198 (79-337) and last available 510 (299-745). Last available HIV viral load was suppressed (<200 RNA copies per mL) in 23,485 (76.14%). Modalities of prescribed antiretroviral treatment varied substantially over time, with integrase inhibitor combinations predominating the last years. Causes of death changed from AIDS defining conditions early in the epidemic to non-AIDS defining conditions more recently. CONCLUSIONS:patients in the Spanish HIV VACH Cohort are predominantly middle-aged men. They acquired HIV via sexual or parenteral routes in similar proportions. Most of them are taking antiretroviral treatment and have their HIV infection properly controlled.