Monday, December 1, 2008

Earlier HIV Treatment Boosts Survival Study Suggests Early Start for Antiretroviral Therapy Can Save More Lives

Oct. 27, 2008 (Washington, D.C.) -- Hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved if treatment for HIV-infected patients were started earlier than current guidelines suggest, researchers report.

The guidelines now call for initiating antiviral therapy in any person who develops symptoms of AIDS or whose CD4 T-cell count -- a measure of how much damage HIV has done to the immune system -- drops to less than 350 cells per cubic millimeter of blood.

But in a study of more than 8,000 patients, those without symptoms who started therapy when their CD4 count was between 351 and 500 cells per cubic millimeter of blood were less likely to die than those who waited until the count was lower, says Mari Kitahata, MD, of the University of Washington in Seattle.

"There was a meaningful, 70% improvement in survival among patients who started therapy when their CD4 count was between 351 and 500," Kitahata tells WebMD.

"The data strongly support initiation of antiretroviral therapy in all patients with CD4 counts of 500 or below, regardless of whether they have symptoms," she says. "We're waiting too late to treat people."

Kitahata presented the findings at a joint meeting of the American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

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