Viral suppression reached nearly 99 percent in Vietnamese HIV clinic cohort

Adults receiving antiretroviral therapy at a Vietnamese health center showed very high rates of virological suppression, according to a cross-sectional study published in BMC Infectious Diseases. Among 318 people living with HIV treated at the Community Counseling and Support Unit for HIV/AIDS at District 3 Health Center during 2024, 98.69 percent of patients on first-line regimens and 91.67 percent of those on second-line regimens had suppressed viral loads. Only five participants in the entire cohort had virological non-suppression, a finding the researchers present as evidence of high suppression prevalence at this facility rather than a basis for conclusions about individual risk factors.

The regimen distribution was heavily concentrated on first-line therapy. Nearly all participants, 96.23 percent, were receiving first-line antiretroviral combinations, while 3.77 percent had been switched to second-line regimens. The single most common regimen was the combination of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine and dolutegravir, known as TDF+3TC+DTG, which accounted for 94.65 percent of all cases in the cohort.

The study combined participant questionnaires with retrospective clinical records to characterize the outpatient population and its treatment outcomes. As a cross-sectional analytical design, it captured a single snapshot of the clinic population in 2024 rather than following patients over time. The authors report that exploratory Firth penalized logistic regression identified nominal differences in virological non-suppression according to ethnicity, marital status and same-sex relationship status.

Those nominal associations, however, did not remain statistically significant. With only five virological non-suppression events in the whole sample, none of the comparisons survived adjustment for multiple testing. The researchers state that larger studies with sufficient numbers of non-suppression events are needed before any factor associated with virological outcome can be reliably investigated.

The authors frame their results in the context of antiretroviral therapy’s role in HIV care. According to the study’s background, HIV/AIDS has remained a major global health concern since its initial discovery, exerting profound impacts on both the physical health and psychosocial well-being of affected individuals and their communities. Antiretroviral therapy is considered the cornerstone of HIV treatment, playing a critical role in improving patients’ quality of life and extending life expectancy. The near-universal suppression observed at this health center indicates that the predominantly dolutegravir-based first-line approach was associated with high suppression rates in this outpatient population in 2024.

Because the study was conducted at a single health center, its findings describe one clinic population rather than national treatment outcomes. The high proportion of patients on TDF+3TC+DTG reflects the regimen distribution at this facility, while the small second-line group, whose suppression rate was somewhat lower at 91.67 percent, represents the minority of patients whose therapy had been switched. The researchers conclude that the prevalence of virological suppression was high and most patients were receiving first-line ART, predominantly TDF+3TC+DTG, and they call for larger investigations with enough non-suppression events to further examine factors associated with virological outcomes.

Subject of Research: Antiretroviral therapy regimens and virological suppression among adults with HIV at a Vietnamese health center in 2024

Article Title: Antiretroviral therapy regimens and virological suppression among adults with HIV: a cross-sectional study at a health center, Vietnam in 2024

Article References: Do, H. Q. T., Nguyen, T., Truong, C. B., Nguyen, T. D., & Nguyen, T. T. T. (2026). Antiretroviral therapy regimens and virological suppression among adults with HIV: a cross-sectional study at a health center, Vietnam in 2024. BMC Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-026-14642-3

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12879-026-14642-3

Keywords: HIV, antiretroviral therapy, virological suppression, dolutegravir, cross-sectional study, Vietnam, first-line regimen, TDF+3TC+DTG, viral load, BMC Infectious Diseases, Antiretroviral, therapy