Adherence Determines CD4 Function

HIV-positive adults who have the best adherence to their antiretroviral drug regimens show the best improvements in CD4-cell counts regardless of how low their baseline CD4 counts were, Canadian researchers report in the March 1 edition of Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The investigators studied 1,522 treatment-naive adults who initiated highly active antiretroviral therapy between 1996 and 2000. Study subjects who were at least 95% adherent were the most likely to achieve a CD4-cell boost of at least 50 cells on two consecutive blood tests, with 93.1% of the subjects reporting such increases. About 84% of study subjects who were between 75% and 94% adherent posted CD4-cell increases. Average CD4-cell counts during the fifth 15-week period of the study were 200 cells for adherent patients who began therapy with a baseline CD4 level of 50 or fewer cells, but levels had increased to only 60 cells among those with similar baseline counts who were not adherent.