Clinical characteristics of pediatric HIV-1 patients treated with first-line antiretroviral therapy in Vietnam: a nested case–control study

Objectives: Over the past decades, Vietnam has made great strides in reducing the rate of mortality in HIV-related deaths, due to increased access of antiretroviral therapy (ART); however, given the significantly high level of treatment failure (TF), it is essential to identify markers that describe the failure of ART in HIV-1 infected children. Methods: A nested case–control study was conducted with clinical data collected from 101 HIV-infected children [26 TF and 75 treatment success (TS)] at National Hospital of Pediatrics, Vietnam (2008–2012). Results: The results showed that certain factors including height, weight, vaccination with Hepatitis B, and platelet were significantly different between TF and TS before starting the treatment. In addition, age to start the treatment, CD4 percentage, and opportunistic infection were found to significantly predict treatment outcome most frequently, implying the importance of clinical markers in the treatment response by Cox regression analysis. Conclusions: There is an inherent complexity within clinical markers that is challenging to determine HIV-pediatric failure and further research is needed to build a complete picture to guide clinical, evidence-based practice.