High CD4+ T-cells percentage and/or low viral load are predictors of 1-5 years survival in HIV-1 vertically infected Thai children.

OBJECTIVE: Enrolling pediatric HIV children into the clinical trial of when to initiate antiretroviral therapy is a crucial ethical issue. CD4+ T-cells percentage and/or viral load were able to identify potential cases of survival through 5 years of age. METHOD: HIV infected cohort from 1992 to 1994 from Children's and Siriraj Hospitals were followed from 1 through 5 years of age. The outcome was survival or death. The predictors were CD4 percentage and viral load (without age and clinical status adjustment). RESULT: 16 of 35 (45.71%) of the cohort survived through 5 years of age. The probability of survival increased to almost 100 per cent either with CD4+ T-cells percentage of over 22 or viral load of less than 500,000.