Study supports starting treatment above 350
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 1:36PM Patients who start HIV treatment when their CD4 cell count is between 350 and 500 cells/mm3 have better outcomes than people who initiate therapy when their CD4 count is 350 or below, a study has shown.
However, the research also demonstrated that starting treatment with a CD4 cell count above 500 gave no additional advantage.
The CASCADE study involved over 9000 patients, recruitment within six months of their infection, none had AIDS, nor had any started HIV treatment.
Patients were followed for an average of five years. comparing progression to AIDS and death on and off treatment. Approximately 9% progressed to AIDS and 6% died.
For patients with a CD4 cell count between 200 and 350, starting treatment reduced the risk of AIDS or death by about %40
Benefits of treatment were also clear for those starting treatment when their CD4 cell count was between 350 and 500.
But the risk of AIDS or death was low for patients with a CD4 cell count above 500, regardless of whether or not they took antiretroviral drugs.
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