AEGiS-12IAC: Gender differences in the relationship between HIV-1 load and progression to AIDS.

12th International AIDS Conference

Geneva, Switzerland - June 28-July 3, 1998

Gender differences in the relationship between HIV-1 load and progression to AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS 1998 Jun 28-Jul 3; 12:163 (abstract no. 13384)

Farzadegan HY, Hoover DR, Astemborski J, Lyles CM, Markham R, Quinn TC, Vlahov D
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 21205, USA.

OBJECTIVES: HIV load in plasma is used for the initiation of combination antiretroviral treatment based on data obtained from gay men studies. We studied the epidemiologic association of viral load between genders to assess differences in cut points on HIV viral load for women and men.

DESIGN: Injection drug users participating in ALIVE Cohort Study were studied for plasma HIV load cross-sectionally at baseline (1988) and at follow up visits (1992-94) in a prospective/retrospective study of fresh and frozen blood specimen.

METHODS: Plasma HIV RNA, measured by b-DNA and RT PCR assay, were performed on frozen specimen. Cell associated HIV load, determined using quantitative microculture assay (QMC), was done real time on fresh blood.

RESULTS: Median HIV-1 viral load was significantly lower in women than men as measured by all 3 assays at both time points (table). In general, median HIV viral load for women was half of that for men. This association with gender remained in a linear egression model adjusting for CD4. Race and drug use showed no effect. Proportional hazards models for AIDS showed that the relative hazard for women increased substantially from (1.09-1.30) to (1.56-1.64) when HIV-1 viral load was added to the model. TABULAR DATA, SEE ABSTRACT VOLUME.

CONCLUSION: Lower HIV-1 load in women but similar pathogenesis, if confirmed in other studies, is suggestive of the use of different cut points of this marker for antiretroviral treatment for women than men.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV-1, Viral Load, HIV Infections, HIV, HIV Seropositivity, Homosexuality, Male, Anti-HIV Agents, Proportional Hazards Models, HIV Antibodies, Cohort Studies, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Sex Characteristics, Retrospective Studies, Human, Female, Male, immunology, ICA12
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