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Potent combination antiretroviral therapy has dramatically reduced AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, but how does persistent partial immunodeficiency, as reflected by low CD4-cell counts, affect overall health? Previous reports from both the DAD study (ACC Mar 21 2005) and the SMART study (ACC Nov 29 2006) indicate an increase in non-AIDS-related deaths (from kidney, liver, and cardiovascular disease and from non-AIDS-related cancer) with lower CD4-cell counts. Now, data from the 14th Retrovirus Conference confirm these reports.
In a French study comparing causes of death among HIV-infected people in 2005 versus 2000 [Abstract 976], AIDS remained the most common cause of death (mostly from non-Hodgkin lymphoma), but the proportion of dea…