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CD4 cell counts rebound among most children treated for HIV
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Data from an NIH-funded study in AIDS suggest the majority of children with HIV eventually recover their CD4 cell levels after undergoing virologic suppression.
Researchers assessed CD4 cell levels among 933 children in the United States, Central and South America and the Caribbean who developed HIV before or during birth and achieved virologic suppression. Children were aged at least 5 years when they initiated treatment.
After 1 year of treatment, 99% of children achieved CD4 T-cell counts of at least 200 cells/µL, and 86% of patients had CD4 counts of 500 cells/µL or more. At 2 years, 92% of the patients met CD4 counts of at least 500 cells/µL.
Children with CD4 cell counts lower than 200 cells/µL at treatment initiation had a median time to 500 cells/µL of 1.29 years compared with 0.78 years among children who began treatment with CD4 cell counts between 200 cells/µL and 349 cells/µL and 0.46 years among those with initial CD4 counts between 350 cells/µL and 499 cells/µL.
Nine children experienced AIDS-defining events, four of which occurred within the first 6 months of treatment. Incidence of these events did not significantly differ among children with CD4 counts above or below 500 cells/µL at the time of the event.
“The good news is that [failure to recover CD4 cells] occurs only infrequently in young children with HIV,” study researcher Rohan Hazra, MD, of the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a press release. “The comparatively few children whose CD4 cells failed to rebound did not appear to be at any greater risk for serious infection than children with higher CD4 counts.” – by Amanda Oldt
Disclosure: The study was funded by the NIH.
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