Clinical manifestations of AIDS in the era of pneumocystis prophylaxis. Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study.
BACKGROUND
Among patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), early and widespread use of prophylactic regimens against Pneumocystis carinii is changing the pattern of illnesses related to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).


METHODS
We conducted a subcohort analysis of 844 men with AIDS (87 percent of whom have since died) from a prospectively followed cohort of 2592 HIV-1-infected homosexual men.


RESULTS
A total of 138 men received prophylaxis before the diagnosis of AIDS, but 39 (28 percent) nevertheless had P. carinii pneumonia at some time. Only four illnesses occurred more frequently in men who received P. carinii prophylaxis before the onset of AIDS: Mycobacterium avium complex disease, which developed in 33.4 percent, as compared with 17.3 percent of the 706 men who did not receive early prophylaxis; wasting syndrome (18.4 percent vs. 6.4 percent); cytomegalovirus disease (44.9 percent vs. 24.8 percent); and esophageal candidiasis (21.3 percent vs. 12.8 percent). Collectively, these four diseases accounted for the initial AIDS-related illness in 42.7 percent of those who received prophylaxis before the onset of AIDS, as compared with 10.7 percent of those who did not. During the three six-month periods before the diagnosis of AIDS (0 to 6, > 6 to 12, and > 12 to 18 months), the geometric mean CD4+ cell counts were 48, 87, and 147 per cubic millimeter, respectively, in men who received prophylaxis against P. carinii, as compared with 118, 211, and 279 per cubic millimeter in those who did not.


CONCLUSIONS
M. avium complex disease, esophageal candidiasis, wasting syndrome, and cytomegalovirus disease are more common in HIV-infected patients who have received prophylaxis against P. carinii than in those who have not. Prophylaxis may delay the first AIDS illness for 6 to 12 months.
Hoover
D R
DR
Department of Epidemiology, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Saah
A J
AJ
Bacellar
H
H
Phair
J
J
Detels
R
R
Anderson
R
R
Kaslow
R A
RA
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000209:etiology; D003622:Dapsone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004935:Esophageal Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D015270:Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection / Q000209:etiology; D010419:Pentamidine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011020:Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000627:therapeutic use
D015215:Zidovudine; D010419:Pentamidine; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination; D003622:Dapsone