Background This study aimed to determine the number of people living with HIV
receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) between 2006 and 2013 in Germany by
using the available numbers of antiretroviral drug prescriptions and treatment
data from the ClinSurv HIV cohort (CSH). Methods The CSH is a multi-centre,
open, long-term observational cohort study with an average number of 10.400
patients in the study period 2006–2013. ART has been documented on average for
86% of those CSH patients and medication history is well documented in the
CSH. The antiretroviral prescription data (APD) are reported by billing
centres for pharmacies covering >99% of nationwide pharmacy sales of all
individuals with statutory health insurance (SHI) in Germany (~85%). Exactly
one thiacytidine-containing medication (TCM) with either emtricitabine or
lamivudine is present in all antiretroviral fixed-dose combinations (FDCs).
Thus, each daily dose of TCM documented in the APD is presumed to be
representative of one person per day receiving ART. The proportion of non-TCM
regimen days in the CSH was used to determine the corresponding number of
individuals in the APD. Results The proportion of CSH patients receiving TCMs
increased continuously over time (from 85% to 93%; 2006–2013). In contrast,
treatment interruptions declined remarkably (from 11% to 2%; 2006–2013). The
total number of HIV-infected people with ART experience in Germany increased
from 31,500 (95% CI 31,000-32,000) individuals to 54,000 (95% CI
53,000-55,500) over the observation period (including 16.3% without SHI and
persons who had interrupted ART). An average increase of approximately 2,900
persons receiving ART was observed annually in Germany. Conclusions A
substantial increase in the number of people receiving ART was observed from
2006 to 2013 in Germany. Currently, the majority (93%) of antiretroviral
regimens in the CSH included TCMs with ongoing use of FDCs. Based on these
results, the future number of people receiving ART could be estimated by
exclusively using TCM prescriptions, assuming that treatment guidelines will
not change with respect to TCM use in ART regimens