Ability to work and employment rates in HIV-1-infected individuals receiving combination antiretroviral therapy: the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. Open Forum Infectious Diseases
Elzi et al. aimed to investigate the ability to work in 5’800 HIV-1-infected adults receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). At baseline, 8.1% were only able to work part time, and 16.3% were unable to work at all. Of the individuals unable to work at baseline, 53.6% were still unable to work at 1 year after starting cART. Predictors of recovering full ability to work at 1 year were non-white ethnicity (odds ratio [OR], 2.04), higher level of education (4.03), cell counts at 1 year of at least 500 cells/μL (2.53), suppressed viral load at 1 year (2.06), and having started cART later in the study period (2.11). In contrast, older age (0.55), a psychiatric disorder (0.24) and participating in an opiate substitution program (0.41) were associated with lower odds of ability to work at 1 year. Recovering full ability to work at 1 year increased from 24.0% in 1998–2001 to 41.2% in 2009–2012, but the employment rates did not increase.
In conclusion, the study reflects a better prognosis for individuals with HIV infection who are treated with cART and with beneficial psychosocial factors.