Lifetime cost of HIV care in France during the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Objective: To estimate the treatment and health care costs of HIV infection or AIDS in France during the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

Design: We used a clinical database of HIV-infected patients to calculate the resource use and cost of care for different stages of HIV infection. Costs were incorporated into a computer-based, probabilistic simulation model of the natural history and treatment of HIV infection to estimate the lifetime cost of treating patients with HIV disease.