A decision tree to help determine the best timing and antiretroviral strategy in HIV-infected patients.

SUMMARYOptimal antiretroviral strategies for HIV-infected patients still need to be established. To this end a decision tree including different antiretroviral strategies that could be adopted for HIV-infected patients was built. A 10-year follow-up was simulated by using transitional probabilities estimated from a large cohort using a time-homogeneous Markov model. The desired outcome was for patients to maintain a CD4 cell count of >500 cells/mm3without experiencing AIDS or death. For patients with a baseline HIV viral load ⩾5 log10copies/ml, boosted protease inhibitor-based immediate highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) allowed them to spend 12% more time with CD4 ⩾500/mm3than…