[Progress on China' s national free antiretroviral therapy strategy in 2002-2014]

To analyze the progress and characteristics of China' s "Free AIDS treatment strategy" since the implementation of the national "four free and one care" policy against AIDS 12 years ago.

Retrospective cohort study and cross-sectional analysis had been conducted in this study. 368 449 cases that had received the ' free antiviral therapy' from 2002 to 2014 were selected from the National Treatment Database. Data from the baseline (initial time of ART, CD(4) cell count, and antiretroviral regimen) and from the follow-up program (dates and status of follow-up, CD(4) cell counts) were gathered and analysed by SAS 9.3.

The number of cases that having received new treatment was increasing year by year, accounting for 75.4% of all the cases identified from 2010 to 2014. Constituent ratios of patients with baseline CD(4) cell count <200 cells/µl and clinical diagnosis of AIDS were decreasing from 81.0% in 2006 to 39.7 % in 2014. Status on drug optimization showed that: 3TC replaced DDI, EFV replaced NVP and TDF replaced D4T, making the utilization rates as 99.5%, 75.7%, and 60.6%, respectively, by 2014. Regions that were covered by the treatment accounted for 75.4% of all the counties/districts involved. The previous CDC-led AIDS treatment program and mode of management had been transferred to the hospital-based model. Proportion on the twice-CD(4)-testing model had been 75.2% since 2010, with the rate of virological detection increased from 70.8% in 2010 to 87.4% in 2014 and the virological unsuccessful testing rate decreased from 17.6% in 2010 to 11.8% in 2014. Among all the patients, the 1, 5 and 10 year survival rates appeared as 92.2%, 80.5% and 69.6%, respectively. For patients with baseline CD(4) cell counts as <50 cells/µl or >350 cells/µl, the corresponding survival rates showed as 81.6% , 69.9% , 60.9% and 97.9%, 89.8% , 81.0%, respectively.

China' s HIV/AIDS free antiretroviral therapy program appeared as a national treatment cohort which involved large number of participants, with new patients joining in, annually. Criterion on drug optimization and treatment were consistently following the recommendation and guidelines set by WHO. Management program on treatment had gradually turned to hospital-based, with follow-up and laboratory testing programs guaranteed, ended up with satisfactory treatment effects.