HIV Database (DBHIV)-Establishment of a Database of HIV Patients

In Italy, there are over 90,000 patients with HIV-1 infection on antiretroviral therapy (ART). The availability of different classes of antiretroviral drugs (nucleoside and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs, NNRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs), integrase inhibitors (INSTIs) and viral entry inhibitors (IEs) that act in different phases of the HIV life cycle, together with careful patient management, has allowed us to obtain long-lasting therapeutic efficacy in the vast majority of Italian patients, making this infection a chronic disease.The introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has completely revolutionized the management of HIV-positive patients, drastically reducing HIV-associated mortality and morbidity. In fact, the course of HIV infection has transformed into a chronic disease, and the number of HIV-infected patients over 50 years of age has increased significantly and the number of elderly subjects is progressively increasing. Furthermore, HIV infection seems to accelerate the aging process, causing immune system dysfunction, excess oxidative stress and increased inflammatory processes (inflammaging).