Objective: In order to describe the progression of HIV disease in a cohort of Dutch HIV-1-infected patients with haemophilia and to study the influence of clinical and clotting factors, we performed a 15-year longitudinal clinical and laboratory study.
Methods: The progression to AIDS in relation to type of haemophilia, antibodies against factor VIII, age, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, and type and total amount of clotting factor consumption was studied in 52 haemophilic patients infected with HIV-1 between 1981 and July 1985.
Results: The progression to AIDS was faster in the group of patients with antibodies against factor VIII (inhibitors) and in the group of patients with haemophilia B than in the group of patients with haemophilia A without inhibitors.
Conclusion: We concluded that HIV-infected patients with haemophilia A with inhibitors and patients with haemophilia B show a significantly faster progression to AIDS than do HIV-infected patients with haemophilia A without inhibitors. These differences are independent of the total amount of clotting factor used and other known risk factors such as age at seroconversion and CMV infection and may be due to the type of clotting product used.