Clinical and sociodemographic features of HIV-infected patients and immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in Antioquia (Colombia)

Background: despite combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) effectiveness for the control of HIV infection, 15-30% of these patients develop Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS), consisting in a clinical worsening at the beginning cART. It is important to know the prevalence and characteristics of people with IRIS to generate prevention strategies. Objective: to describe the prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics of patients with IRIS HIV-related, from a health care facility in Antioquia - Colombia. Methods: in a population of 515 patients that started cART between 2013-2018, we developed a cross-sectional study with a simple random sampling of 188 HIV patients. The presence of IRIS was defined according to French criteria or high suspected IRIS in those who had insufficient clinical information and have developed an opportunistic infection (OI) after cART initiation. Results: the prevalence of IRIS was 12.8% (12.5% by French criteria and 87.5% by high suspected IRIS). IRIS patients were 25% women, median age 41.5 years. 87.5% presented OI. From these, the most common was tuberculosis disease (72.7%). Conclusions: in the era of cART, there are still an important number of IRIS cases, which indicates the need to continue implementing preventive and diagnostic protocols and early treatment initiation.