A study presented
at the Third International AIDS Society Conference on
HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Rio de Janeiro estimates
that the lifetime cost of treating an HIV-positive
person exceeds $400,000 and can run as high as
$648,000 without discounts on antiretroviral drugs,
HIVandHepatitis.com reports. Using data collected from 17
U.S. HIV care sites and a computer model to calculate
care costs over time, the researchers predict that
adults who begin antiretroviral treatment when their
CD4-cell counts drop below 350 cells can be expected to live
24.1 years and will run up a medical tab of between
$405,000 with drug discounts to as high as $648,000
without them.
Adults starting
anti-HIV drugs with a CD4-cell count below 200--the
AIDS-defining threshold--were predicted to live an
average of 22.4 years and to spend from $370,000 to
$589,000 for their care.
The study
estimates that 68% of lifetime HIV care costs are for
antiretroviral drugs, 16% for outpatient care, 11% for
inpatient care, and 5% for other medications and
laboratory costs.
Based on their
findings, the researchers estimate that the 40,000 people
newly infected with HIV each year in the United States will
require about $12.8 billion in medical care.