Discordant Responses to ART

Patients who have either complete virologic control or good immunologic recovery, but not both, have higher risk for opportunistic infection or death than do patients who show favorable responses in both parameters.

After initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART), most patients experience good virologic control and immune recovery, which lowers their risk for HIV-associated morbidity and mortality. However, about 20% of patients have discordant responses (i.e., they have either virologic or immunologic response, but not both), and the prognostic implications of such responses are not well characterized.

To address this gap, researchers studied 404 patients who initiated ART through an urban clinic in Alabama between 1995 and mid-2004. All the patients had CD4-cell counts and viral loads available from both baseline and 3 to 9 months after initiation of their first active ART regimen. Immunologic response was defined as an increase from baseline of ≥50 CD4…

Reviewing Author

Helmut Albrecht, MD

Disclosures

Grant / Research supportHealth Resources and Services Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Leadership positions in professional societiesColumbia Medical Society; South Carolina Infectious Diseases Society

Helmut Albrecht, MD

Disclosures

Grant / Research supportHealth Resources and Services Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Leadership positions in professional societiesColumbia Medical Society; South Carolina Infectious Diseases Society

Discordant Responses to ART

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Reviewing Author