Ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor monotherapy is 6% less effective than combination antiretroviral therapy in a meta-analysis

Methods We searched electronic databases (Pubmed, EMBASE, Central) from 1996 to 2010 using keywords, “protease inhibitor”, “antiretroviral”, “monotherapy”, relevant drug names and standard “HIV” and “RCT” search strings on March 22, 2010, without limits to language. We searched major HIV-related conferences manually from 2007 and contacted experts. Two reviewers independently assessed citations for eligibility and extracted relevant data. Assessment of bias of individual studies was performed independently by both reviewers. We did not include review articles, single-arm trials, or observational studies.