Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Oral Combinational Antiretroviral Treatment in HIV-1 Infected Humanized Mice
Published on: October 6, 2022
Use of complementary and alternative medicine in HIV-infected subjects
Vittorio Agnoletto1, Francesca Chiaffarino, Paola Nasta
1LILA (Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro l'AIDS), Milan, Italy.
Objectives:
To compare the characteristics of HIV-infected subjects who had ever used with those who had never used Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).
Design:
The European Level Epidemiology of Complementary Therapies in HIV project (ELECTHIV 2), a case-control study, was conducted in seven European countries. All HIV-infected subjects who consecutively attended the offices of the collaborating organizations were eligible for this study. Information was obtained from self-administered, anonymous questionnaires.
Setting:
A total of 1066 subjects entered the study: 632 were CAM users and 434 had never used CAM.
Results:
CAM use was more common among females than males (odds ratio (OR) 1.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-2.2) and in more educated subjects. CAM use was less common among subjects taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) (OR 0.5; 95% CI 0.3-0.8), but was more common in outpatients who reported HAART-related side effects (specifically neuropathy).
Conclusion:
This study indicates that CAM use in HIV-infected subjects is related to female gender, higher levels of education and longer duration of HIV infection.
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