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Objectives Early mortality among those still initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) with advanced stages of HIV infection in resource-limited settings remains high despite recommendations for universal HIV treatment. We investigated risk factors associated with early mortality in people living with HIV (PLHIV) starting ART at low CD4 levels in the Asia-Pacific. Methods PLHIV enrolled in the Therapeutics, Research, Education and AIDS Training in Asia (TREAT Asia) HIV Observational Database (TAHOD) who initiated ART with a CD4 count 1 year were censored at 12 months. Competing risk regression was used to analyse risk factors with loss to follow-up as a competing risk. Results A total of 1813 PLHIV were included in the study, of whom 74% were male. With 73 (4%) deaths, the overall first-year mortality rate was 4.27 per 100 person-years (PY). Thirty-eight deaths (52%) were AIDS-related, 10 (14%) were immune reconstituted inflammatory syndrome (IRIS)-related, 13 (18%) were non-AIDS-related and 12 (16%) had an unknown cause. Risk factors included having a body mass index (BMI) 100 cells/μL: SHR 0.12; 95% CI 0.05-0.26) was associated with reduced hazard for mortality compared to CD4 count ≤ 25 cells/μL. Conclusions Fifty-two per cent of early deaths were AIDS-related. Efforts to initiate ART at CD4 counts > 50 cell/μL are associated with improved short-term survival rates, even in those with late stages of HIV disease.

S E T T ING: Tuberculosis (TB) is the most common human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) related opportunistic infection and cause of acquired immune-deficiency syndrome related death. TB often affects those from a low socio-economic background. OBJECTIVE : To assess the socio-economic determinants of TB in HIV-infected patients in Asia. DESIGN: This was a matched case-control study. HIVpositive, TB-positive cases were matched to HIVpositive, TB-negative controls according to age, sex and CD4 cell count. A socio-economic questionnaire comprising 23 questions, including education level, employment, housing and substance use, was distributed. Socio-economic risk factors for TB were analysed using conditional logistic regression analysis. RESULT S : A total of 340 patients (170 matched pairs) were recruited, with 262 (77.1%) matched for all three criteria. Pulmonary TB was the predominant type (n ¼ 115, 67.6%). The main risk factor for TB was not having a university level education (OR 4.45, 95%CI 1.50–13.17, P¼0.007). Burning wood or coal regularly inside the house and living in the same place of origin were weakly associated with TB diagnosis. CONCLUS IONS : These data suggest that lower socioeconomic status is associated with an increased risk of TB in Asia. Integrating clinical and socio-economic factors into HIV treatment may help in the prevention of opportunistic infections and disease progression. KEY WORDS : socio-economic; questionnaire; matched; HIV; TB