Understanding the Role of HIV Load in Determining Weight Change in the Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

Abstract

Patients with HIV infection who are losing weight and are not taking HAART should be considered for HAART. Patients who are already receiving HAART and have unsuppressed virus loads may benefit virologically from an intensified regimen, because such a regimen may lead to complete suppression if there is an accompanying increase in CD4(+) cell counts. Further research is needed to understand the strong independent effect of changes in REE among patients receiving and patients not receiving HAART.