Australian HIV Observational Database

The Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD) is an observational cohort study of HIV infected individuals attending specialised general practitioner sites, sexual health clinics and tertiary referral centres throughout Australia. This study has been ongoing since 1999, and currently has 27 sites contributing a total of 2921 enrolled patients with average 5 years of follow-up data.

The primary objectives of the Australian HIV Observational Database are to monitor patterns of antiretroviral treatment use, including the efficacy of different treatment regimens, related to demographic factors and markers of HIV disease stage; patterns of toxicities/adverse events associated with antiretroviral treatment use, as well as to monitor HIV related and non-HIV related causes of death.

The core data collected include patient demographics, HIV disease stage (CD4 t-cell counts, HIV viral load and AIDS defining illness), as well as antiretroviral treatment, and laboratory data (including total cholesterol, HDL, haemoglobin, ALT and AST). Data are contributed to AHOD in electronic form from computerised patient management systems on a six monthly basis in agreed standardised formats. Data are merged, collated and summarised on the behalf of contributing sites at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR), UNSW, Sydney.

Summary reports of trends in antiretroviral treatment use are published on a yearly basis, and widely circulated in Australia. Summary data are also contributed to the Australian Annual Surveillance Report. Peer-reviewed articles have also been published. Reports and publication abstracts can be downloaded from the links below.

The Australian HIV Observational Database is funded as part of the Asia Pacific HIV Observational Database, a program of The Foundation for AIDS Research, amfAR, and is supported in part by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (Grant No. U01-AI069907) and by unconditional grants from Merck Sharp & Dohme; Gilead; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Boehringer Ingelheim; Roche; Pfizer; GlaxoSmithKline; Janssen-Cilag. The National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research is funded by The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, and is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine, The University of New South Wales

Contact information:

Study Coordinators: Sadaf Marashi Pour, Hamish McManus
Administrative Coordinator: Courtney Bendall
Study Leader: Kathy Petoumenos

Principal Investigator: Matthew Law