Abstract Book Vol. 2 [International Conference on AIDS (14th: 2002: Barcelona, Spain)]

80 Abstracts WePeB6005-WePeB6008

XIV International AIDS Conference

"to boost immunity" (33%). Over two thirds believe CAM was helpful. When asked
who prescribes CAM, 49% noted primary medical provider (PMD), 3% CAM practitioner, & 44% self medicate. Over time, report of CAM use to PMDs increased
from 33% at baseline to 68% by 2001, however, 89% of herb use remained unreported. For women who did not report CAM use to PMDs, 40% "didn't think it was
important", 23% said "s/he didn't ask ", & 5% noted "s/he is not knowledgeable".
Conclusions: CAM use among HIV+ women remains high in the HAART era.
Although overall reports of CAM use to PMDs is encouraging, the low report of
herbal use is problematic since these ingestibles may have potential toxicities &
drug interactions. It is important for HIV providers to ask about CAM use, become
familiar with indications, monitor for adverse effects & potential drug interactions,
& educate their patients.
Presenting author: Kathleen Weber, 115 S. Brainard, LaGrange, Illinois, 60525,
United States, Tel.: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-mail: weberkathleen
@ameritech.net
WePeB6005 HAART related side effect and use of
Complementary Therapy (CT) among HIV+ people
P. Nastal, F Chiaffarino2, V. Agnoletto3, F Parazzini2, C. Mann4, K. Kokkas5,
N. Culler6. 1Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Institute of Infectious
and Tropical Diseases, Spedali Civili, Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25125
Brescia, Italy; 2Mario Negri Institute, Milan, Italy; 3LILA-Italian league for fight
against AIDS, Milan, Italy; 4 Positively Healthy London, United Kingdom;
5 Sinthesis, Athen, Greece; 6 CCHANVIHAR, Barcei/ona, Spain
Background: HAART therapy is related very often with a decrement in Quality
of Life (QL) and with an important concern about one's health status. CT use is
reported in literature related to side effect to improve quality of life.
Aims: ELECTHIV project (European Level Evaluation of Complementary Techniques in HIV), promoted by EU and Italian Institute of Health, is a case control
study comparing the ever CT and never CT to analyse the determinants of CT
use among HIV people with particular attention to the presence of short an long
term side effect and interruption or change treatment due to adverse events.
Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were distributed in UK, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Greece and Spain among people attending associations for fight
against AIDS including, also, information on time of HAART use, presence of side
effect, treatment interruption or changing drugs due to adverse event.
Results: A total of 1066 subjects entered in the study: 632 were CT users and
434 were not CT users. 80,7% of CT users and 90,8% of non CT users use of
HAART The most frequent combination was 2NRTi+PI in booth groups. CT users
reported more frequently HAART related side effect than never CT users (OR of
ever CT use in HAART group reported presence of side effect 2.1 95%CI 1.4 -3.1).The side effect caused more frequently suspension or change of HAART in
CT users (OR of ever CT use 1.8 (95%CI 1.3-2.5) for suspension and 1.4 (95%CI
1.0-1.8) for change therapy).The only side effect more frequently reported, in a
statistically significant way reported by CT users was neuropathy.
Conclusion: Long term side effect are more often reported by HIV+ people using CT then never CT users. CT could be an answer to improve quality of life in
people who reported adverse event, but could be a problem in the management
of HIV+ persons who use natural treatment and antiretrovirals together.
Presenting author: Paola Nasta, Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases,
Spedali Civili, Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25125 Brescia, Italy, Tel.: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]
WePeB6006 Could the use of complementary therapies
influence the adherence to HAART regimen?
P. Nasta', V. Agnoletto2, F. Chiaffarino3, F. Parazzini3, C. Sala2, G. Weiler4,
K. Kokkas5. 'Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Institute of Infectious
and Tropical Diseases, Spedai Civili, Brescia, Piazzale Spedai Civili 1, 25125
Brescia, Italy; 2LILA-Itaian League for fight against AIDS, Milan,Italy; 3Mario
Negri Institute, Milan, Italy; 4 Deutsche AIDS Hilfe, Bermi, Germany; 5 Sinthesis,
Athen, Greece
Background: Lack of adherence is one of the cause of treatment failure. Some
scientific articles reported an adherence reduction if HAART is used together with
natural therapies.
Aims: ELECTHIV project-European Level Evaluation of Complementary Techniques in HIV, promoted by EU and Italian Institute of Health, is a case control
study comparing the ever CT and never CT to analyse the determinants of CT
use among HIV people. One of ELECTHIV aims was, also, to investigate CT influence on compliance to HAART.
Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were distributed in UK, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Greece and Spain among people attending ONG against AIDS,
including, also, information on one's perception about CT use and HAART adherence, the pill's number take per day, the pill's number forgot in the last 24 hours
and in the last week, the personal perception on difficult to intake drugs.

Results: 1066 subjects are enrolled: 632 were CT users and 434 were not CT
users. 80,7% of CT users and 90,8% of non CT users use of HAART. The majority
reported to intake 5-10 pills per day. 80,2% of ever and 81,7% of never CT users
reported none pills forgotten in the last 24 hours; 1,4% and 2.3% respectively
reported all pills forgotten. 66,7% of ever and 69,0% of never CT users reported
none pills forgotten in the last week; 0,4% and 2,5% respectively reported all pills
forgotten. VAS about perception on difficulty to intake drugs was little for 43,1%

of CT users and 53,8% of non CT,was very high for 23,7% and 12,2% for ever
and never CT users respectively. Analysing in which way the CT could influence
compliance to HAART, 61,2% of CT users said that improves, 1,2% that worsens,
27,6% that doesn't influence, 10% missing data.
Conclusion: In our study CT doesn't influences compliance to HAART. CT users
feels more difficult to intake pills and underline how CT help them to adhere.
Presenting author: Paola Nasta, Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases,
Spedali Civili, Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25125 Brescia, Italy, Tel.: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]
WePeB6007 Complementary medicine use among HIV+
persons: level of information and perception of
HAART- herbs interactions risks
P. Nasta', V. Agnoletto2, F. Chiaffarino3, F. Parazzini3, C. Mann4, N. Culler5,
Y. Behar6, K. Kokkas7. 'Institute od Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Brescia,
Italy; 2L/LA_/talian League for fight aginst AIDS, Milan, Italy; 3Mario Negri
Institute, Milan, Italy; 4Positively Healthy London, United Kingdom;
5CCANVIHAR, Barcellona, Spain; 6Action traitment, Paris, France; 7Sinthesis,
Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Spedali Civili, Brescia
Background: 46% of HIV+ people in Europe use Natural therapy (NT) to improve
their quality of life. Herbs could interact with antiretrovirals.To use drugs and herbs
together, without a guide could be really dangerous.
Aims: ELECTHIV project (European Level Evaluation of Complementary Techniques in HIV), promoted by EU and Italian Institute of Health, is a case control
study comparing the ever NT and never NT users. One of the study aims was to
investigate the risk perceptions among NT users.
Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were distributed in UK, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Greece and Spain among people attending ONG against AIDS, including, also, information on perception of NT efficacy, NT risks and the level of
information about NT
Results: 1066 subjects are enrolled: 632 and 434 were ever and never NT users
respectively Among NT users 59% who started HAART from < 12 months,
started NT in the same period and 32% started HAART >3 years ago started
NT in the same period. NT are felt very effective by 59%, and enough effective
by 29%. 79% are little afraid about adverse effect related to NT Asking who recommended them the NT use, 38,1% answered "an other HIV person" and 32,9%
started alone. 73% of NT users sample is monitored by a non-physicians, more
or less expert. Among them 6.3% self-prescribed non conventional treatment.
Among NT users 72,3% said to have access to information about NT, and 32,9%
described their level of knowledge Sufficient, 26,7% good, 21,8% bad.
Conclusion: A big part of sample started NT and HAART in the same period.
They reported a very high sense of NT efficacy, but a very low perception of risks.
Most of people is followed by non-physicians and, in part, prescribed by them self
the NT These data suggest the risk of interaction could be very serious if who
menage HAART don't have information about NT use by patients.
Presenting author: Paola Nasta, Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases,
Spedali Civili, Brescia, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25125 Brescia, Italy, Tel.: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]
WePeB6008 Use of marijuana among people with HIV and its
relationship to adherence to antiretroviral
treatment, use of alternative therapies and
complete viral suppression in a public health care
setting in northern California
D.E. Prentiss', M.G. Balmas', R. Power2, D.M. Israelski'. 'San Mateo County
Health Center, clinical trials and research, 222 west 39th avenue, san mateo, ca,
94401, United States; 2Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United States
Backgound. Controversy over the use of marijuana to benefit people with chronic
disease is limited by the few data currently available. This study examines the
prevalence of marijuana use, adherence to antiretroviral treatments (ART), the
use of alternative therapies, and their associations with complete viral suppression in a diverse population of people with HIV/AIDS.
Methods: Participants were recruited via consecutive and snowball sampling in
3 public clinics and through local HIV support groups. With only a 5% refusal rate,
252 participants were interviewed, 70% of whom are currently on ARV treatment.
Sixty-six (26%) were female. African Americans comprised 35% of this diverse
study population, Whites 32% and Latinos 27%. Complete viral suppression (_50
copies/ml3) is present for 40.1%.
Results: Recent use of marijuana was reported by 58 participants (23%). More
than 80% of marijuana smokers did not use other illicit drugs in previous 4 weeks.
Distinction is made between "any marijuana use" (23%), "medical marijuana use"
(10%)and "strict medical marijuana" use (4%). Marijuana use in this population is
significantly associated with being white, experiencing pain and feeling nausea.
Complete viral suppression (51.9%) was negatively associated with marijuana

use (OR=0.476, p=0.054). Seventy percent of participants are on ART of which
45% meet criteria for high adherence to therapy. High adherence is self-reported
as 100% of ART doses taken in the last 4 weeks, and is not associated with marijuana use. Use of nutritional supplements was reported by 110 (43.6%) persons,
primarily multivitamins. Multivariate analysis is in progress to assess the significance of relationships of the use of marijuana, adherence to ART, alternative
therapies and complete viral suppression.