NEW YORK - Taking a cocktail of powerful AIDS drugs seems to cut down the average death rate by half in a group of people tainted with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, who were followed for an average of more than 3 years.In absolute terms, the reduction in death rate translated into a 5 % increase in 5-year survival for those who started combination HIV therapy compared with those who didn't.

The introduction of combination therapy for HIV infection in 1996 has very much improved immune function in patients tainted with the virus. The impact of HIV therapy on overall survival, yet, remained unclear, Dr. Miguel A. Hernan, of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues note in the most recent issue of the journal AIDS.

To check whether combined HIV therapy was actually saving lives, the team examined data from 12 European and US studies involving 62,760 HIV infected patients who are new to HIV therapy were followed for an average of 3.3 years.

During follow up, a total of 2039 patients died. After the researchers permitted for factors that may influence death rates, they found that the risk of death was 52 % lower in those who initiated combination HIV therapy relative to those who didn't.

Combined HIV therapy, the investigators note, and "halved the (death) rate of HIV-infected individuals in urbanized countries, and the absolute reduction in (death) was stronger in those with worse prognosis at the beginning of the follow-up

This finding, the team finish off, "demonstrates the benefits of being treated even at the most advanced stages of (disease)."

The current findings, Dr. Miguel A. Hernan added, "can be used to inform policy models and cost-effectiveness calculations in Western populations."

Labels: AIDS Drug Cocktails Save Lives: Study