Determinants of HIV drug resistance testing in British Columbia

International therapeutic guidelines recommend HIV drug resistance testing as an important part of routine clinical practice in HIV/AIDS treatment and care. This study aims to examine the factors that determine who gets tested for HIV drug resistance in a setting where access to HIV care is free of charge. Clinical and socio-demographic data from a prospective cohort (LISA) of HIV-positive persons on HAART in British Columbia (BC) was collected at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Independent associations between key explanatory variables and the probability of having been tested before or after starting HAART were analyzed via logistic regression. The findings suggest that in BC, a setting with free access to HIV care, resistance testing is not consistently carried out. Furthermore, several explanatory variables were predictive of who is likely to be tested. The clinical community will benefit from a review of the implementation levels of resistance testing practice.