An unexpected finding of the present study was that patients receiving 60 weeks of early cART had a better HRQL on some of the physical MOS-HIV subscales than patients receiving 24 weeks of early cART. Because this is the first study to report the impact of early cART during PHI on HRQL, we cannot relate this selleck chemicals finding to those of previous studies. This result may be a real finding or may be the consequence of selection

bias, because not all participants enrolled in the RCT completed HRQL questionnaires. Clearly, this finding should be corroborated in future studies. A limitation of this substudy is that we included nonrandomized untreated PHI patients to increase the sample size of the no-treatment group. However, no differences were observed in HRQL between randomized and nonrandomized untreated patients. Additionally, we found a similar trend in results when analysing only the randomized patients.

In conclusion, in addition to the clinical benefit of temporary cART initiated during PHI, this substudy demonstrated that temporary early cART had a significant positive impact on patients’ HRQL over a study period of 96 weeks, despite the initial, short-term occurrence of physical symptoms, which were probably related to drug toxicity. learn more These findings provide important additional support for early intervention in patients with PHI and should be taken into account when considering early cART in patients with PHI. The authors wish to thank L. Gras of the HIV Monitoring Foundation for assisting with the data retrieval and the study participants for helping to establish this cohort. Tenofovir purchase Author contributions: MLG, JMP and PTN drafted the manuscript. MLG, RS and JMP established the cohort and together with MGAV, MK

and GJK were responsible for patient enrolment and the conduct of the trial at each study site. GK performed the data entry and MLG and PTN conducted the statistical analysis. All authors provided valuable input into protocol development and interpretation of data, and critically revised the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript. Financial support: This study was investigator-driven and not supported by any sponsor or specific source of funding. The Primo-SHM study has been made possible through the collaborative efforts of the following investigators and institutions (*site coordination physicians): Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam: J. M. Prins*, J. M. A. Lange, M. L. Grijsen, R. Steingrover, J. N. Vermeulen, M. Nievaard, B. Slegtenhorst, H. Doevelaar, W. Koevoets, H. E. Nobel, A. Henderiks and F. J. J. Pijnappel; Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam: M. E. van der Ende*, B. J. A. Rijnders, I. Padmos, L. van Zonneveld and S. Been; Haga Ziekenhuis, locatie Leyenburg, Den Haag: R. H. Kauffmann*, E. F. Schippers, R. Korte and J. M.