The clinical impact of continuing to prescribe antiretroviral therapy in patients with advanced AIDS who manifest no virologic or immunologic benefit.

Introduction: Despite the efficacy and tolerability of modern antiretroviral therapy (ART), many patients with advanced AIDS prescribed these regimens do not achieve viral suppression or immune reconstitution as a result of poor adherence, drug resistance, or both. The clinical outcomes of continued ART prescription for such patients have not been well characterized.

Methods: We examined the causes and predictors of all-cause mortality, AIDS-defining conditions, and serious non-AIDS-defining events among a cohort of participants in a clinical trial of pre-emptive therapy for CMV disease.