Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:40:35.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Optimal timing of antiviral therapy in HIV infection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

Abstract

A three-stage real diffusion process is used as a model of the T-cell count of an HIV-positive individual who is to receive antiviral therapy such as AZT. The ‘quality of life' of such a person is identified as the sojourn time of the diffusion process above a certain critical T-cell level c. The time of introducing therapy is defined as the first-passage time of the diffusion to a prescribed level z > c. The distribution of the sojourn time of the diffusion above the level c depends on the level z at which therapy is initiated. The expected sojourn time is explicitly computed as a function of z for the particular diffusion process defining the model. There is a simple criterion for determining when to start therapy as early as possible.

Type
Part 1 Epidemic processes
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1994 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berman, S. M. and Dubin, N. (1992) Is earlier better for AZT therapy in HIV infection? A mathematical model. In AIDS Epidemiology: Methodological Issues , ed. Jewell, N. P., Dietz, K. and Farewell, V. I., pp. 366383. Birkhäuser, Boston.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, D. R. and Miller, H. D. (1965) The Theory of Stochastic Processes. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Doetsch, G. (1961) Guide to the Applications of Laplace Transforms , Fairbairn, W. M., Translation editor. Van Nostrand, London.Google Scholar