Characteristics of Suboptimal Immune Response after Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy among People Living with HIV with pre-treatment CD4 count <200 cells/mm3 in Thailand

ABSTRACT Background Complete recovery of CD4 T cell count is uncommon among chronic HIV-infected individuals with very low pre-treatment CD4 count. We studied the prevalence of suboptimal immune recovery and its associated factors including immune characteristics among chronic HIV-infected Thais. Methods Treatment-naive participants (n=375) from HIV-NAT 006 cohort with pre-ART CD4 Results Among 375 participants with pre-ART CD4 Conclusions Nearly 10% of the study participants who had achieved virological suppression failed to recover CD4 cell count to ≥200 cells/mm3 after 3 years of ART which was associated with very low pre-ART CD4 cell counts and older age. The long-term clinical outcomes of SIR participants need to be further explored.