Impact of a Dolutegravir-based Regimen on Early Mortality of Severely Immunocompromised AIDS Patients

The current available antiretroviral (ARV) agents make possible a successful treatment of virtually all HIV-infected patients, but some problems related to early mortality are still of concern, mainly in resources-limited settings. There are several published reports showing that such patients are at a significantly higher risk of death during the first months of treatment, in comparison with the observed outcomes in developed countries. One of the consistently detected risks for early mortality across these reports is the baseline low CD4 count, although it does not seem to be the only reason for such outcome. In Brazil and other developing countries, there is still a large proportion of AIDS patients who are diagnosed with AIDS, or only seek health care for HIV infection late in the course of disease. Dolutegravir (DTG), the first HIV-1 integrase inhibitor, is a potent and safe ARV drug. The available evidence suggest it promotes a faster decline in HIV-1 plasma viremia, and a higher increase in CD4 cells count, in comparison with those in Efavirenz (EFV) arm. The investigators propose to compare the impact of DTG versus EFV in the early mortality rates for severely ill (CD4+ cells count <50 cells/mm3) patients starting ARV therapy.