Table 3.

Frequency of T and NK (CD56^dim and CD56^bright) cells from subjects in different groups.

	Median			Mean ± SD			p value (Kruskal-Wallis test)
	Healthy	HIV/AIDS	HIV/AIDSWC	Healthy	HIV/AIDS	HIV/AIDSWC
Percentage (%)
Total lymphocytes	35.50	35.50	30.00	33.61 ± 9.09	35.44 ± 10.44	32.39 ± 11.94	0.3617
T cells	55.20	59.40	57.70	54.48 ± 11.54	60.70 ± 9.14	57.52 ± 11.28	0.2204
CD4 T cells	53.00	38.20a	23.60ab	54.44 ± 11.12	37.91 ± 10.74	26.28 ± 14.99	<0.0001
CD8 T cells	36.10	53.00a	62.00a	35.26 ± 9.96	53.12 ± 10.32	60.66 ± 15.45	<0.0001
NK cells	11.30	9.70	11.60	13.21 ± 6.69	11.15 ± 7.08	12.93 ± 6.75	0.4699
CD56dim NK subset	96.50	95.70	94.80	95.72 ± 2.94	94.23 ± 5.10	93.70 ± 5.14	0.2499
CD56bright NK subset	3.70	4.50	5.10	4.41 ± 2.99	5.26 ± 4.14	6.37 ± 5.60	0.3283
Absolute numbers (cells/mm3)
WBC count	7000	5500	6800	7148.00 ± 2233.85	5924.00 ± 1860.17	7261.90 ± 2789.52	0.0722
Total lymphocytes	2280	1960	2110	2256.40 ± 566.09	2007.60 ± 597.02	2341.42 ± 1152.39	0.4601
T cells	1159	1198	1314	1214.16 ± 416.83	1229.88 ± 454.55	1329.95 ± 640.95	0.8751
CD4 T cells	655	453a	280ab	665.36 ± 272.59	472.56 ± 228.92	355.42 ± 303.63	0.0002
CD8 T cells	369	603a	753a	430.08 ± 209.90	645.84 ± 252.61	812.38 ± 437.61	0.0007
NK cells	274	194	248	292.20 ± 173.04	211.76 ± 131.60	310.28 ± 235.15	0.1501
CD56dim NK subset	257	185	239	281.60 ± 172.52	203.32 ± 131.54	294.76 ± 226.17	0.1817
CD56bright NK subset	9	7	10	10.92 ± 7.29	7.72 ± 4.92	15.23 ± 12.39	0.1137

Percentage values represent the frequency (in percentage and absolute numbers) in median of T cells, CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, and NK cells among all peripheral blood lymphocytes and the frequency of CD56^dim and CD56^bright NK cells among the NK cell population. Means and standard deviations (SD) are also shown. Significant p values are highlighted in boldface type. a = statistical difference to the healthy group (p < 0.05); b = statistical difference to the HIV/AIDS group (p < 0.05). Statistical comparisons made by Kruskal-Wallis (with Student-Newman-Keuls posttest).