title: CD4 counts in laboratory monitoring of HIV disease--experience from western India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  CD4 counts vary in different populations. The present study was conducted to determine CD4 counts in different World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stages in antiretroviral therapy naive individuals and to find out optimum CD4 cutoffs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data of adult HIV seropositive patients who underwent CD4 count and total lymphocyte count (TLC) testing were included for analysis. The severity of immunosuppression was graded based on WHO criteria. To establish optimum CD4 cutoff values, receiver-operator characteristics (ROC) curves were generated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 754 patients, 52.2% had CD4 counts <200 cells/mm3, but only 2.3% belonged to WHO stage IV. Newer CD4 cutoffs generated were 280, 120-280, <120 cells/mm3. Spearman rank correlation between CD4 counts and TLC was found to be weak (r = .32).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cutoff values of CD4 counts for HIV disease may need to be revised for India. Regular CD4 count estimation is a must for monitoring disease progression in people living with HIV/AIDS.
authors.forename: Nayana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ingole
authors.forename: Gita
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nataraj
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Supriya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paranjpe
authors.forename: Purva
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarkate
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D012372:ROC Curve; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents