Introduction: The incidence of HIV/AIDS is increasing worldwide and in the Middle East. In this study, we analyzed the use of antiretroviral therapy (ART), the patterns of CD4 and viral load (VL), and stage of presentation. Methodology: Laboratory variables, ART use, and CD4 count were obtained and analyzed retrospectively. Results: A total of 997 cases from eight HIV/AIDS care providers were included. Of the total cases, 274 (28.3%) had a CD4 count of < 200 cells/mm 3 , and 413 (42.3%) had a viral load of > 5 log 10 . Of the total cases, 50% were on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and the majority of cases were asymptomatic (70%). Of those patients on ART, 247 (39.5%) took tenofovir/emtricitabine combined with either efavirenz (147; 14.7%) or lopinavir/ritonavir (100; 10%), and 158 (15.8%) were on lamivudine and zidovudine with either efavirenz (32; 3.2%) or lopinavir/ritonavir (126; 12.6%). Other combinations were used in 70 (7%) patients. The mean (± standard deviation) of baseline CD4 and viral load were 401 cells/mm 3 (322 cells/mm 3 ) and 4.6 log10 10 (1.3 log 10 ), respectively. At diagnosis, 72% of patients were asymptomatic; 50% had AIDS and 20% had CD4 count < 350. Conclusions: ART use was in line with international guidelines, but the number of patients receiving ART was lower than expected. Large proportions of cases presented late with AIDS at diagnosis or had CD4 < 350. Further data is needed to evaluate the medical care of patients with HIV/AIDS in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The study assesses the global annual cost of people living with HIV (PLWHIV) in France in 2013 and affiliated to the general insurance scheme during 2008-2015. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in the SNIIRAM database containing individualized data on all reimbursed health expenses for the French population. PLWHIV were identified by specific chronic diseases status and/or reimbursement of HIV laboratory tests and/or HIV-related hospitalizations and/or reimbursements of antiretroviral drugs in 2013. Each patient was followed two years after his inclusion. Hospital and outpatient costs were estimated and categorized in 13 subgroups: antiretroviral drugs, daily sick leave benefits, other drugs, paramedical visits, general practitioner visits, specialist visits, medical devices, transports, laboratory tests, other outpatient costs, hospital stays, hospital outpatient consultations and hospital at home. Costing was performed considering French official tariffs for 2013 and 2014 and expressed in 2019 euros. Results: A cohort of 96,423 PLWHIV was identified. Mean age was 47.5 years old (612), 65% were men, and most frequent treatments outside HIV drugs were treatments for cardiovascular disease (20%), psychotropic treatments (16%) and liver disease (15%). The total annual cost of PLWHIV was calculated to V1.4 billion, split into antiretroviral drugs for 63% (870MV), hospital stays for 11% (154MV), daily sick leave benefits for 8% (116MV), other drugs for 5% (73MV). The median annual cost per patient was estimated to be V12,094 [610,801, Q1: 9,001, Q3: 16,795], varying from V618 for 0-10 years old PLWHIV to V13,725 for 51-60 years old PLWHIV, V11,969 for incident patients (N=3,373), and V13,560 for patients with at least one comorbidity. Conclusions: This study shows that the global annual cost of PLWHIV is mainly charged to antiretroviral drugs cost. Only thin disparities in total cost were observed in each group (age, incident, comorbidity), advanced analyses such as Machine Learning could identify significantly overexpressing cost profiles.