Gender Differences in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Disease Progression and Treatment Outcomes

Abstract

Several interventions have been implemented for control and prevention of HIV, including provision of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). A major concern is how this investment can effectively reduce morbidity and mortality due to HIV given the existence of various factors that contribute to treatment failure. The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate the role of gender on HIV Disease progression and treatment outcomes. Demographic, epidemiological, clinical, immunological, treatment information as well as blood from HIV infected patients were collected. Epidemiological analyses, using standard phylogenetic and statistical tests were done. A follow-up of patients who were initiated on ART for 1 year enabled description of the gender differences in HIV disease progression and treatment outcome. After 1 year of follow up on ART, more females survived, and more females had undetectable viral load compared to males. However, women lost their initial immunological advantage as they presented with lower immunological recovery after 1 year of therapy. Socio-demographic factors do have an impact on disease progression during ART in HIV-1 infected patients. We recommend that more cohorts of patients be continuously followed up to understand the differences on ART outcome between males and females.