The Comparative Outcomes And Service Utilization Trends (COAST) study is a population-based cohort study that aims to examine the health outcomes and health service use of people living with HIV (PLHIV), including both those who are accessing and not accessing antiretroviral therapy, as compared to the general population of British Columbia.

The study comprises two defined cohorts of adults: a cohort including PLHIV and a comparison group consisting of a 10% random sample of adults from the general population of BC followed from 1996 to 2013. COAST contains de-identifed health-related data on antiretroviral and health service use from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and other health administrative data holdings within Population Data BC.

The study currently has linked data from 1996 to 2013, with future data linkages planned for additional years.

Learn more about the COAST study’s aims, objectives and key findings in this fact sheet.