Care Cascade

Antiretroviral therapy (ART), the cornerstone of HIV treatment, effectively suppresses the virus in the vast majority of people. As a result, people with HIV have a life expectancy comparable to the HIV-uninfected population, with population-level benefits due to disruption of transmission chains. However, an HIV infection remains to be a chronic condition and requires continuous treatment, hence sustained engagement in care is essential. Additionally, low-level viremia—where the virus remains detectable at low levels despite therapy—can complicate clinical management and long-term outcomes. Here, our group implemented a longitudinal analysis to this phenomenon better. In the project “Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 Low-Level Viremia Predicts Viral Failure in Participants on Antiretroviral Therapy in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study” could show that indeed, low-level viremia leads to subsequent viral failure. Here, we employed a time-updated analysis of the area under the viral load measurements (see Figure).

Figure: Understanding low-level viremia over time