We found some anticipated themes and some unexpected ones, confirming that true perspective can only be provided by the patients themselves. Knowledge of these important themes has informed the development of new programmes aimed at this growing segment of the patient population. “
“Over 25 years of follow-up is now available for HIV-infected haemophilia

patients. The aim of this study was to retrospectively asses the morbidity and mortality of HIV infection and the effects of HAART in these patients. Data on HIV infection, its treatment and all types of comorbidity were collected from medical records of all 60 HIV-positive haemophilia patients who were treated

at the Van Creveldkliniek since 1980 and compared with data from 152 HIV-negative patients with severe haemophilia and the general age-matched male selleck kinase inhibitor population. AIDS developed in 27 patients (45%), while 31 patients died (52%). Death was solely or partially AIDS-related in 71%. Development of AIDS and AIDS-related deaths declined strongly after the introduction of HAART. Only one major ischaemic cardiovascular event occurred in our study population. Of the 27 patients who were still treated at our clinic in 2010, 25 (93%) were on HAART. They had more often hypertension and diabetes, but less often overweight and obesity and lower cholesterol levels Cell Cycle inhibitor than the general population. The occurrence of spontaneous intracranial bleeding was higher in HIV-positive haemophilia patients on HAART than in HIV-negative patients with severe haemophilia (16.6 vs. 1.2 per 1000 patient years). Since the introduction of HAART, the impact of HIV infection medchemexpress on morbidity and survival has decreased. The increased prevalences of hypertension and diabetes, however, warrant regular screening. HIV-positive haemophilia

patients on HAART appear to have an increased risk of spontaneous intracranial bleeding. Infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) was an important and often devastating complication of haemophilia treatment in the 1980s. Fortunately, since 1985, all clotting-factor products have been free of HIV. Of 335 Dutch haemophilia patients known at our haemophilia centre in 1995 who were at risk for HIV infection, 53 (15.8%) were actually infected [1]. Before the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996, many of these patients died. HAART, today also called combined antiretroviral therapy (CART), nowadays consists of a combination of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors and/or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Because of HAART, life expectancy of HIV-positive patients has improved dramatically, and HIV-related complications have become rare.