title: Immunologic predictors of HIV-related survival among Texas prison inmates.
abstract: Research indicates that being incarcerated adversely affects overall health status. Because HIV-infection is a growing problem among the U.S. prison population, understanding how incarceration affects HIV-related survival holds particular clinical and public health relevance. Moreover, while the prognostic roles of CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte count have been well documented in noninstitutionalized populations, little is known about how these factors operate to predict survival among prison populations. The present study examined immunologic determinants of HIV-related survival in a cohort of 752 Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) inmates who were treated for HIV/AIDS between 1993 and 1996 at a large south-western medical center. Survival analysis using proportional hazards modeling showed that: (1) the prognostic role of CD4 count among inmates was similar to previous findings among non-incarcerated populations; (2) the prognostic role of CD8 count was slightly weaker than that previously reported for non-incarcerated populations; and (3) inmates who exhibited high levels of both CD4 and CD8 count had a survival advantage over those who had a high score on only one of the two factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, USA. baillargeon@uthscsa.edu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baillargeon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grady
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Borucki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011329:Prisoners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011336:Probability; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology