AIDS-Defining Illnesses and Mortality in a Cohort of 336 HIV-Infected Patients

INTRODUCTION: Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) continues to be a serious worldwide public health problem despite widespread efforts to control the disease. Today, with the introduction of high-active antiretroviral therapy, AIDS-related mortality rates are significantly reduced and life expectancy for HIV-infected patients has increased. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate AIDS-defining illnesses during the clinical course of HIV infection and the effects of immune status on clinical outcomes.
METHODS: The medical records of HIV infected patients who were followed up between January 2005 and November 2018 were retrospectively investigated.
RESULTS: During the study period, 336 HIV-infected patients were followed up. Among 336 patients, 45 (13.3%) had experienced one or more, a total of 59 episodes of AIDS-defining illnesses during follow-ups. Of 45 patients who had experienced AIDS-defining illnesses, 42 (93,3%) were male, the mean age was 41.1±9.7 years and 12 of them were found to have died when this study conducted. The median count of CD4 T lymphocytes and the mean age at the time of diagnosis of 33 alive and 12 died patients were 106 cells/mm3, 40.1±9.9 years, and 94 cells/mm3, 43.9±8.5 years, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the median count of CD4 T lymphocytes and the mean age of alive and died patients. The most common AIDS-defining illness was Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia with 28.8%. The most common diagnosed cause of mortality was AIDS-related carcinomas with 33%.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These findings reveal that the most important preventive measure for survival in HIV-infected patients is the early diagnosis of the disease and the initiation of antiretroviral therapy before the emergence of AIDS-defining illnesses due to severe immune deficiency.