Table 1.
Baseline characteristics.
| Characteristic | Intermittent ART group (n=109) % or median | Continuous ART group (n=93) % or median | Total (n=202) % or median (IQR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | |||
| Age (years) | 45.0 | 43.0 | 44.0 (40.0, 50.0) |
| Female participants (%) | 12.8 | 22.6 | 17.3 |
| Race/ethnicity (%) | |||
| Black | 25.7 | 28.0 | 26.7 |
| Latino or Hispanic | 16.5 | 14.0 | 15.3 |
| White | 56.0 | 57.0 | 56.4 |
| Other or unknown | 1.8 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| HIV transmission modes (%) | |||
| MSM | 70.6 | 58.1 | 64.9 |
| Heterosexual | 30.3 | 34.4 | 32.2 |
| Intravenous drug use | 13.8 | 14.0 | 13.9 |
| Other or unknown | 4.6 | 10.8 | 7.4 |
| Clinical characteristics | |||
| BMI | 26.3 | 26.3 | 26.3 (23.6, 29.3) |
| Current smoker (%) | 41.3 | 49.5 | 45.0 |
| Corticosteroid use (%) | 0.9 | 3.2 | 2.0 |
| Duration of HIV infection (years) | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 (5.0, 14.0) |
| Prior AIDS diagnosis (%) | 24.8 | 22.6 | 23.8 |
| Hepatitis B (%) | 3.7 | 5.5 | 4.5 |
| Hepatitis C (%) | 15.6 | 17.2 | 16.3 |
| CD4 cell count (cells/μ1) | 580 | 525 | 558 (441, 766) |
| Nadir CD4 cell count (cells/μL) | 225 | 268 | 250.0 (136, 371) |
| HIV-RNA ≤400 copies/mL plasma (%) | 62.4 | 47.3 | 55.4* |
| Antiretroviral therapy (ART) | |||
| Naive (%) | 5.5 | 6.5 | 5.9 |
| Duration of prior ART (years) | 6 | 7 | 6 (3, 8) |
| Current ART (%) | 79.8 | 67.7 | 74.3* |
| Current PI use (%) | 43.1 | 29.0 | 36.6* |
| Current tenofovir use (%) | 11.9 | 15.1 | 13.4 |
| Current TA-NRTI use (%) | 58.7 | 49.5 | 54.5 |
| Current NRTIsa other than tenofovir or TA-NRTIs (%) | 11.9 | 9.7 | 10.9 |
| Current NNRTI use (%) | 36.7 | 35.5 | 36.1 |
| Bone mineral density | |||
| Spine, qCT (mg/cm3) | 153 | 150 | 152 (128, 173) |
| Z-score | −0.10 | −0.11 | −0.11 (−0.88, 0.56) |
| T-score | −0.89 | −0.97 | −0.91 (−1.79, −0.02) |
| T-score < −2.5 (%) | 7.3 | 12.9 | 9.9 |
| Spine, DXA (g/cm2) | 1.11 | 1.09 | 1.10 (1.01, 1.21) |
| Z-score | −0.40 | −0.70 | −0.60 (−1.33, 0.30) |
| T-score | −0.64 | −0.70 | −0.70 (−1.40, 0.30) |
| T-score < −2.5 (%) | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.5 |
| Total hip, DXA (g/cm2) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 (0.94, 1.12) |
| Z-score | −0.23 | −0.10 | −0.20 (−0.80, 0.49) |
| T-score | −0.50 | −0.41 | −0.46 (−1.00, 0.30) |
| T-score < −2.5 (%) | 2.8 | 1.1 | 2.0 |
| Femoral neck, DXA (g/cm2) | 0.92 | 0.91 | 0.91 (0.83, 1.05) |
| Z-score | −0.26 | −0.30 | −0.30 (−0.88, 0.42) |
| T-score | −0.80 | −0.70 | −0.79 (−1.40, 0.08) |
| T-score < −2.5 (%) | 0.9 | 3.3 | 2.0 |
| Low BMD, by DXA T-scores b (%) | 42.2 | 38.7 | 40.6 |
| Osteoporosis, by DXA T-scores b (%) | 5.5 | 4.3 | 5.0 |
Abbreviations: ART, antiretroviral therapy; IQR, interquartile range; MSM, Men who have Sex with Men; NNRTI, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor; NRTI, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor; qCT, quantitative computed tomography; TA-NRTI, thymidine analogue-reverse transcriptase inhibitor.
*
P-value ≤ 0.05 for the comparison between the treatment groups; Chi-square tests were used to compare percentages, Kruskal-Wallis tests to compare medians.
a
includes abacavir (73%), didanosine (36%), emtricitabine (5%) and lamivudine (73%)
b
Low BMD, at least one of the T-scores for DXA spine and hip was below −1; osteoporosis, at least of the T- scores for DXA spine and hip was below −2.5.