What is already known about this topic?: While antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been rapidly scaled-up among the population living with human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) patients since 2016, pretreatment drug resistance (PDR) has also increased.

What is added by this report?: PDR has an impact on ART outcomes. After one year of ART, the risk of virological failure in individuals with PDR was found to be 2.3 times higher than that of individuals without PDR. Moreover, patients with PDR to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) had an even higher risk of virological failure, with an odds ratio of 2.8 as compared with those without PDR.

What are the implications for public health practice?: PDR is associated with an increased risk of virological failure. It is recommended to regularly implement PDR monitoring in order to provide information to optimize ART regimens and to prevent HIV drug resistance.

Keywords: HIV drug resistance; antiretroviral therapy; virological failure.

Copyright and License information: Editorial Office of CCDCW, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2022.