Scientific article
Review
English

Inferior clinical outcome of the CD4+ cell count-guided antiretroviral treatment interruption strategy in the SMART study: role of CD4+ Cell counts and HIV RNA levels during follow-up

Published inThe Journal of infectious diseases, vol. 197, no. 8, p. 1145-1155
Publication date2008
Abstract

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: The SMART study compared 2 strategies for using antiretroviral therapy-drug conservation (DC) and viral suppression (VS)-in 5,472 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with CD4+ cell counts >350 cells/microL. Rates and predictors of opportunistic disease or death (OD/death) and the relative risk (RR) in DC versus VS groups according to the latest CD4+ cell count and HIV RNA level are reported. RESULTS: During a mean of 16 months of follow-up, DC patients spent more time with a latest CD4+ cell count <350 cells/microL (for DC vs. VS, 31% vs. 8%) and with a latest HIV RNA level >400 copies/mL (71% vs. 28%) and had a higher rate of OD/death (3.4 vs. 1.3/100 person-years) than VS patients. For periods of follow- up with a CD4+ cell count <350 cells/microL, rates of OD/death were increased but similar in the 2 groups (5.7 vs. 4.6/100 person-years), whereas the rates were higher in DC versus VS patients (2.3 vs. 1.0/100 person-years; RR, 2.3 [95% confidence interval, 1.5-3.4]) for periods with the latest CD4+ cell count ≥ 350 cells/microL-an increase explained by the higher HIV RNA levels in the DC group. CONCLUSIONS: The higher risk of OD/death in DC patients was associated with (1) spending more follow-up time with relative immunodeficiency and (2) living longer with uncontrolled HIV replication even at higher CD4+ cell counts. Ongoing HIV replication at a given CD4+ cell count places patients at an excess risk of OD/death.

Keywords
  • AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/epidemiology/mortality
  • Anti-HIV Agents/*administration & dosage
  • *CD4 Lymphocyte Count
  • Drug Administration Schedule
  • HIV/*genetics/*immunology
  • HIV Infections/*drug therapy/immunology/mortality/virology
  • Humans
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • RNA, Viral/*blood
  • Treatment Outcome
Citation (ISO format)
LUNDGREN, J. D. et al. Inferior clinical outcome of the CD4+ cell count-guided antiretroviral treatment interruption strategy in the SMART study: role of CD4+ Cell counts and HIV RNA levels during follow-up. In: The Journal of infectious diseases, 2008, vol. 197, n° 8, p. 1145–1155. doi: 10.1086/529523
Main files (1)
Article
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0022-1899
553views
0downloads

Technical informations

Creation27/03/2012 09:23:41
First validation27/03/2012 09:23:41
Update time14/03/2023 17:20:49
Status update14/03/2023 17:20:49
Last indexation29/10/2024 19:13:58
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack