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Clinicians have long known that some HIV-positive patients remain clinically, virologically, and immunologically stable for extended periods, even without antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, because the criteria for defining these categories of stability vary considerably, cross-study comparisons are difficult to make. Researchers in France now try to offer some clarity about these clinically stable patient types in a national, hospital-based cohort study.
Of 46,880 patients who were followed prospectively, only 903 (2%) met the study-inclusion criteria: asymptomatic, ART-naive status; known date of HIV diagnosis; documented follow-up visit in 2005; and at least three documented measurements of CD4-cell count and viral load during the pre…