View article

Objective:

To analyse factors that influence the following: the square root of first CD4 cell count; which individuals are severely immunodeficient at or before the start of monitoring; progression from the date of the earlier of two consecutive CD4 counts≤ 200× 10 6/l (termed as CD200) to AIDS.

Setting:

Scotland's HIV Immunology Laboratories and the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health.

Patients:

A total of 1679 adult HIV patients in Scotland to 31 December 1994 who had ever had a CD4 cell count≤ 500× 10 6/l or who had developed AIDS without any immunological monitoring, of whom 912 had developed severe HIV-related immunodeficiency (ie, were CD200/AIDS cases).

Results:

Square-root first CD4 count was higher in women (by 2.1; SE, 0.5), in injecting drug users (IDU; by 1.8; SE, 0.5) and in younger patients (by 1.5 per 10 years; SE, 0.2), but reduced by 1.5 (SE, 0.1) per calendar year of …