Early time-limited antiretroviral therapy versus deferred therapy in South African infants infected with HIV: results from the children with HIV early antiretroviral (CHER) randomised trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Interim results from the children with HIV early antiretroviral (CHER) trial showed that early antiretroviral therapy (ART) was life-saving for infants infected with HIV. In view of the few treatment options and the potential toxicity associated with lifelong ART, in the CHER trial we compared early time-limited ART with deferred ART.

Methods

CHER was an open-label randomised controlled trial of HIV-infected asymptomatic infants younger than 12 weeks in two South African trial sites with a percentage of CD4-positive T lymphocytes (CD4%) of 25% or higher. 377 infants were randomly allocated to one of three groups: deferred ART (ART-Def), immediate ART for 40 weeks (ART-40W), or immediate ART for 96 weeks (ART-96W), with subsequent treatment interruption. The random

SUBMITTER: Cotton MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4104982 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature