The incidence and spectrum of AIDS-defining illnesses in persons treated with antiretroviral drugs

The incidence and spectrum of primary AIDS-defining illnesses in human immu nodeficiency virus-positive patients receiving antiretroviral drugs may hav e changed since the introduction of newer antiretroviral agents. We perform ed a retrospective analysis of patients enrolled in the British Columbia Dr ug Treatment Program who were ever prescribed antiretroviral drugs between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1996. Rates were calculated on a 6-month bas is. There were 344 AIDS cases diagnosed among 2,533 participants between 19 94 and 1996. The incidence of primary AIDS diseases decreased from 1994 to 1996, with a sharp decline in 1995 and 1996. There was no statistically sig nificant change in the incidence of primary AIDS diagnoses relative to one another, and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma remain the most common AIDS index diagnoses. In patients receiving antiretroviral the rapy in the modern era, the incidence of AIDS-defining illnesses has decrea sed substantially, but the spectrum of AIDS-defining illnesses remains unch anged.