Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics of the Patients.*
| Characteristic | Earlier ART (N = 332) |
Later ART (N = 329) |
P Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male sex — no. of patients (%) | 215 (64.8) | 210 (63.8) | 0.80 |
| Age — yr | 0.38 | ||
| Median | 35 | 36 | |
| Interquartile range | 30–41 | 30–42 | |
| Body-mass index† | 0.90 | ||
| Median | 16.7 | 16.8 | |
| Interquartile range | 15.3–18.3 | 15.2–18.6 | |
| Karnofsky performance score — no. of patients (%)‡ | 0.83 | ||
| ≥80 | 43 (13.0) | 44 (13.4) | |
| 50 to 70 | 259 (78.0) | 251 (76.3) | |
| ≤40 | 30 (9.0) | 34 (10.3) | |
| CD4+ T-cell count | 0.61 | ||
| Median — per mm3 | 25 | 25 | |
| Interquartile range — per mm3 | 11–56 | 10–55 | |
| CD4+ T-cell count level | 0.79 | ||
| ≤50/mm3 — no. of patients (%) | 237 (71.4) | 238 (72.3) | |
| 51–200/mm3 — no. of patients (%) | 95 (28.6) | 91 (27.7) | |
| Viral load — log10 copies/ml | 0.25 | ||
| Median | 5.60 | 5.66 | |
| Interquartile range | 5.20–6.02 | 5.25–6.00 | |
| Hemoglobin — g/dl | 0.98 | ||
| Median | 8.7 | 8.7 | |
| Interquartile range | 7.1–10.4 | 7.0–10.2 | |
| Opportunistic infections — no. of patients (%) | |||
| Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia | 3 (0.9) | 7 (2.1) | 0.22 |
| Esophageal candidiasis | 8 (2.4) | 6 (1.8) | 0.60 |
| Extrapulmonary cryptococcosis | 6 (1.8) | 4 (1.2) | 0.53 |
| Cryptosporidiosis, with diarrhea for >1 mo | 1 (0.3) | 1.00 | |
| Herpes simplex infection | 1 (0.3) | 1.00 | |
| Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy | 1 (0.3) | 1.00 |
*
ART denotes antiretroviral therapy.
†
The body-mass index is the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters.
‡
The Karnofsky performance score is a measure of the patient’s general condition and degree of autonomy on a scale ranging from 0 to 100, with higher numbers indicating better performance.