Increase in CD4 count among new enrollees in HIV care in the modern antiretroviral therapy era.

Background Earlier HIV diagnosis and engagement in care improves outcomes and is cost-effective, as a result in 2006 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised the HIV screening guidelines. We sought to determine whether the CD4 count (CD4) at presentation, a surrogate for time to presentation, increased during the study period. Our a priori hypothesis was that the CD4 at presentation increased during the study period, particularly after the CDC guideline revision.