The START Trial: Definitive Evidence to Treat All HIV-Positive Persons Regardless of CD4 Counts
Andrés Tabernilla 1, Eva Poveda 1
1 NULL
*Correspondence: Andrés Tabernilla, Email not available
Abstract
The Strategic Timing of Anti-Retroviral Treatment (START) study is the first large-scale randomized clinical trial to establish that earlier antiretroviral treatment (ART) benefits all HIV-infected individuals. The START trial was conducted by the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global Trials (INSIGHT) at 215 sites in 35 countries and enrolled 4,685 HIV-positive patients. All participants enrolled were ART naive with CD4+ counts > 500 cells/mm3. Approximately half of them were randomized to start ART immediately and the other half deferred therapy until their CD4+ counts declined to < 350 cells/mm3. All patients were followed for three years.
