Characteristics of included studies.

RCT: Randomized Controlled Trial; Pros: prospective; Ret: retrospective PTB: pulmonary tuberculosis; DS: drug-sensitive; DR: drug-resistant; Na: not available; IQR: interquartile range.
$Values refer to the total population of main study (in absence of detailed data available on TB cases receiving ART).
aTotal study population included also 827 HIV-negative subjects. Data in the table refer to the HIV positive subset.
breported estimated midpoint + range or SD; c (in days), relative to TB treatment start/TB diagnosis date, range either complete range or IQR depending on data availability.
crefers to subjects included in the meta-analysis. Detailed information on CD4 count for the whole study population for each study is reported in Table S1.
d1subjects already on ART by the start of TB treatment,
d2subjects that started ART within 90 days from TB treatment start.
erange.
121% (n = 37) of them started within 3 months of TB treatment start.
Characteristics of included studies.