Risk Factors for Mortality in Patients with AIDS in the Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

To evaluate risk factors for mortality among patients with AIDS in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), particularly the effect of cytomegalovirus (CMV). Prospective cohort study of patients with AIDS, conducted from 1998 through 2003. One thousand five hundred eighty-three patients with AIDS, of whom 374 had CMV retinitis. Patients were contacted every 3 months, with examinations at least every 6 months, in which standardized data were collected on AIDS history and treatment, eye examinations, and hematologic, virologic, and immunologic laboratory data. Mortality. The overall mortality rate was 0.07 deaths/person-year. In a multivariate analysis, the following baseline risk factors were associated with an increased mortality: higher human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load (relative risk [RR] = 4.6 for HIV viral load >100 000 copies/ml vs.