Initial antiretroviral therapy in a 20-year observational cohort of patients followed at a reference center in the City of S？o Paulo, Brazil

introduction: production and free universal access to art for patients with hiv/aids were responsible for a major fall in morbidity-mortality in brazil. objective: to describe antiretroviral treatment at the s？o paulo std/aids training and reference center. methods: cross-sectional analysis of the characteristics of the first treatment with antiretroviral drugs of a retrospective cohort of patients 13 years and over, enrolled at the reference center, 1985-2005, described by frequency tables and graphs. results: 4,191 patients were described. the most frequent initiation period was 1999-2003; 82.7% of patients were treatment na？ve. monotherapy prevailed until 1995, the peak of double therapy was 1996-98, and 1999-2005 was characterized by triple therapy. regarding triple therapy, regimens with protease inhibitors accounted for 1,462 (34.9%) of all first prescriptions. the combination azt, 3tc and efv was the most frequently prescribed regimen (47.4%) in 2005. conclusions: this descriptive study may enable more in depth analyses on the factors involved in the treatment patients with hiv/aids.