Correlation of PCR-based assays with viral outgrowth assay.

aCorrelations were analyzed for the entire study population (n = 30) and for subpopulations of study subjects starting HAART during acute/early (n = 10) or chronic (n = 20) HIV-1 infection. Because of limitations in the size of blood or tissue samples, not all assays were performed for all subjects, and the n for each assay is shown in the last column. Correlation coefficients were only computed for n>5.bCorrelation coefficient for correlation with the viral outgrowth assay. Except where indicated, the Pearson correlation coefficient is shown.c95% confidence intervals for the correlation coefficient. Strong correlations were considered to be formally excluded when the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval was dP values eBecause of the large number of samples in which 2-LTR circles were below the limit of detection (2 copies/106 cells), a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was computed using a value of 1 copies/106 cells for the samples in which 2 LTR circles were not detected.fBecause of the large number of plasma samples that had HIV-1 RNA levels below the limit of detection (0.2 copies/ml), a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was computed using a value of 0.1 copies/ml for negative assays.