Biomaterial Database

Should antiretroviral therapy be started earlier? 2007

Joel E Gallant

Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 East Monument Street, Room 443, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. jgallant@jhmi.edu

Current treatment guidelines recommend that antiretroviral therapy be deferred until the CD4 count has fallen into the 200 to 350 cells/mm(3) range. However, treatment has become simpler, less toxic, and more forgiving of missed doses. Longer-term follow-up data from clinical cohorts are now showing better outcomes when therapy is started at higher CD4 cell counts. Therapy initiated early has better virologic and immunologic responses, is better tolerated, and is cost-effective. Recent developments and clinical data support a return to earlier initiation of therapy.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D006505	Hepatitis	INFLAMMATION of the LIVER.	Hepatitides
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013995	Time	The dimension of the physical universe which, at a given place, orders the sequence of events. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)	Effects, Long-Term,Effects, Longterm,Long-Term Effects,Longterm Effects,Effect, Long-Term,Effect, Longterm,Effects, Long Term,Long Term Effects,Long-Term Effect,Longterm Effect
D015658	HIV Infections	Includes the spectrum of human immunodeficiency virus infections that range from asymptomatic seropositivity, thru AIDS-related complex (ARC), to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).	HTLV-III Infections,HTLV-III-LAV Infections,T-Lymphotropic Virus Type III Infections, Human,HIV Coinfection,Coinfection, HIV,Coinfections, HIV,HIV Coinfections,HIV Infection,HTLV III Infections,HTLV III LAV Infections,HTLV-III Infection,HTLV-III-LAV Infection,Infection, HIV,Infection, HTLV-III,Infection, HTLV-III-LAV,Infections, HIV,Infections, HTLV-III,Infections, HTLV-III-LAV,T Lymphotropic Virus Type III Infections, Human
D016032	Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic	Works about clinical trials that involve at least one test treatment and one control treatment, concurrent enrollment and follow-up of the test- and control-treated groups, and in which the treatments to be administered are selected by a random process, such as the use of a random-numbers table.	Clinical Trials, Randomized,Controlled Clinical Trials, Randomized,Trials, Randomized Clinical
D044966	Anti-Retroviral Agents	Agents used to treat RETROVIRIDAE INFECTIONS.	Antiretroviral Agent,Antiretroviral Agents,Agent, Antiretroviral,Agents, Anti-Retroviral,Agents, Antiretroviral,Anti Retroviral Agents
D018791	CD4 Lymphocyte Count	The number of CD4-POSITIVE T-LYMPHOCYTES per unit volume of BLOOD. Determination requires the use of a fluorescence-activated flow cytometer.	Lymphocyte Count, CD4,T4 Lymphocyte Count,CD4 Cell Counts,CD4 Counts,CD4+ Cell Counts,CD4+ Counts,CD4 Cell Count,CD4 Count,CD4 Lymphocyte Counts,CD4+ Cell Count,CD4+ Count,Count, T4 Lymphocyte,Counts, T4 Lymphocyte,Lymphocyte Count, T4,Lymphocyte Counts, CD4,Lymphocyte Counts, T4,T4 Lymphocyte Counts
D023241	Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active	Drug regimens, for patients with HIV INFECTIONS, that aggressively suppress HIV replication. The regimens usually involve administration of three or more different drugs including a protease inhibitor.	Combination Antiretroviral Therapy,HAART,Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy,Antiretroviral Therapies, Combination,Antiretroviral Therapy, Combination,Combination Antiretroviral Therapies,Therapies, Combination Antiretroviral,Therapy, Combination Antiretroviral