Immunologic Response to ART by Age Among Treatment-Naive Patients in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study investigated the association of age with CD4+ cell counts of HIV patients receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) over a 4 year period. Data were collected from 126,672 previously treatment-naïve patients in 4 Sub-Saharan African nations. The baseline CD4+ count was measured at onset of ART and at 6-month intervals thereafter. The predictor variable was the age at initiation of therapy with ages grouped in five 10-year ranges: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60 and over. The following 8 baseline covariates were also noted: sex, WHO stage, functional status, active TB infection, active cryptococcal disease, active P. jiroveci pneumonia, other active opportunistic infections, and ART regimen. The resulting dataset includes 466,482 repeated CD4+ count measurements with demographic and other patient-related characteristics.

本研究探讨了年龄与接受抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART）的HIV患者CD4+细胞计数之间的关联，研究时间跨度为4年。数据收集自撒哈拉以南非洲4个国家中的126,672名先前未经治疗的病人。在开始ART治疗时及之后每隔6个月测量基线CD4+计数。预测变量为治疗开始时的年龄，年龄分为五个10年组别：20-29岁、30-39岁、40-49岁、50-59岁以及60岁以上。此外，还记录了以下8个基线协变量：性别、世界卫生组织（WHO）分期、功能状态、活动性结核感染、活动性隐球菌病、活动性肺孢子虫肺炎、其他活动性机会性感染和ART治疗方案。所得数据集包括466,482次重复的CD4+计数测量，以及人口统计学和其他与病人相关的特征。