Laboratory Monitoring Among HIV-Infected Children in Africa

Routine toxicity monitoring provided little benefit in this study; CD4-cell–count monitoring provided a clinical benefit after the first year.

The DART trial, which involved HIV-infected adults on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Uganda and Zimbabwe, found no benefit from routine toxicity monitoring but significant benefit from CD4-cell–count monitoring (JW AIDS Clin Care Jan 11 2010). Until now, no studies had examined these strategies in children.

In the open-label, 5-year ARROW study, 1206 HIV-infected children aged 3 months to 17 years in Uganda and Zimbabwe were randomized to receive routine laboratory and clinical monitoring (LCM), with hematology, chemistry, and CD4-cell testing every 12 weeks, or clinically driven monitoring (CDM), in which toxicity results were returned to care providers only if requested or if grade 4. Patients were also randomized to one of three ART stra…

Reviewing Author

Holly Rawizza, MD

Laboratory Monitoring Among HIV-Infected Children in Africa

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Reviewing Author