inPractice® - Immunologic Response to Therapy

Older patients who achieve and sustain virologic suppression after ART initiation have less robust CD4+ cell count recovery compared with younger people^{[Engsig 2014; Goetz 2001; Kaufmann 2005; Florence 2003; Baker 2008; Zhang 2020]}
Further impairment of the immunologic response occurs in patients who do not achieve virologic suppression^{[COHERE 2008; Silverberg 2007; Florence 2003; Kaufmann 2003; Khanna 2008; Gandhi 2006]}
In the general population of older persons, slow CD4+ cell recovery reflects age-related decreases of thymic naive CD4+ cell production^{[Haynes 2000; Robbins 2009]}