title: Relationships among nutritional status, disease progression, and survival in HIV infection.
abstract: This investigation retrospectively studied relationships between survival in human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive outpatients receiving recent therapies (n = 77) and two markers of nutritional status, serum albumin and percent of usual body weight. Subjects were observed for an average of 186 +/- 8 days; 19% died within the study period. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regressions showed that older subjects who had lower CD4 counts, lower albumin levels, or had lost more weight demonstrated poorer survival. Albumin levels and weight loss were related to CD4 counts. The relative risk of death for subjects with low albumin levels (< 3.5 g/dl) was 3.6 times greater (p < 0.021, with 95% confidence limits [95%CL] of 1.2-10.9) than that for subjects with normal albumin levels (> or = 3.5 g/dl), even after controlling for age and CD4 counts. Similarly, after controlling for CD4 counts and age, subjects whose baseline body weights were < 90% of their usual weight had a greater relative death risk (8.3 times greater, p < 0.002, 95% CL 2.3-34.1) than those who had lost less. Survivors and nonsurvivors who had similar CD4 counts differed significantly in albumin levels (p < 0.05). Thus, nutritional status influences survival independent of CD4 counts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia, PA 19146.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guenter
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Muurahainen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kosok
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Cohan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rudenstein
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Turner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001835:Body Weight; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D009752:Nutritional Status; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin