Open AccessEstimating the Optimal CD4 Count for HIV-infected Persons to Start Antiretroviral Therapy
Author(s) -
Bryan E. Shepherd,
Cathy A. Jenkins,
Peter F Rebeiro,
Samuel E. Stinnette,
Sally Bebawy,
Catherine C. McGowan,
Todd Hulgan,
Timothy R. Sterling
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.901
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1531-5487
pISSN - 1044-3983
DOI - 10.1097/ede.0b013e3181e97737
Subject(s) - observational study , antiretroviral therapy , medicine , asymptomatic , confidence interval , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , metric (unit) , antiretroviral treatment , viral load , immunology , operations management , economics
Optimal timing of antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected persons is unclear, although 2 recent large observational studies have improved our understanding of the best CD4 threshold for initiation. These studies compared the effect of starting HAART on mortality and mortality/AIDS between strata defined using broad ranges of CD4 counts. We sought to expand this understanding using a novel statistical approach proposed by Robins et al.