Current and Past Immunodeficiency are Associated with Higher Hospitalization Rates among Persons on Virologically Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy for up to Eleven Years

Persons with HIV (PWH) with persistently low CD4 counts despite efficacious antiretroviral therapy could have higher hospitalization risk. In six US and Canadian clinical cohorts, PWH with virologic suppression for ≥1 year in 2005-2015 were followed until virologic failure, loss to follow-up, death, or study end. Stratified by early (Years 2-5) and long-term (Years 6-11) suppression and lowest pre-suppression CD4 count <200 and ≥200 cells/µL, Poisson regression models estimated hospitalization incidence rate ratios (aIRR) comparing patients by time-updated CD4 count category, adjusted for cohort, age, gender, calendar year, suppression duration, and lowest pre-suppression CD4 count. The 6997 included patients (19 980 person-years) were 81% cisgender men and 40% White. Among patients with lowest pre-suppression CD4 <200 cells/μL (44%), patients with current CD4 200-350 versus >500 cells/μL had an aIRR of 1.44 during early suppression (95% CI 1.01-2.06), and 1.67 (1.03-2.72) during long-term suppression. Among patients with lowest pre-suppression CD4 ≥200 (56%), patients with current CD4 351-500 versus >500 cells/μL had an aIRR of 1.22 (0.93-1.60) during early suppression and 2.09 (1.18-3.70) during long-term suppression. Virologically suppressed patients with lower CD4 counts experienced higher hospitalization rates, and could potentially benefit from targeted clinical management strategies.

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