Table 1 Characteristics of patients included in the study

Age (years)^a

40 [35, 48]

42 [39, 48]

0.58

Gender (% of males)

33

69

0.04

Follow-up maintaining EC status (years)

12 [10, 13]

9 [5, 12]

0.02

Time since HIV diagnosis (years)

19.3 [14.8, 24.1]

19.3 [9.6, 21.8]

0.62

CD4 count at the beginning of follow-up (cells/μL)

838 [646, 1097]

1047 [881, 1125]

0.06

CD4 count at the end of follow-up (cells/μL)

931 [675, 1147]

632 [443, 843]

0.01

CD4 slope (cells/μL per year)

8.9 [1.2, 19]

-66 [− 113, −32]

< 0.0001

CD4 count at the moment of the study (cells/μL)

889 [752, 1051]

886 [548, 1280]

0.87

Hepatitis C virus positive (%)

80

69

0.68

Patients with non-AIDS defining events during the follow-up period (%)

11

11

1

Number of HIV-RNA blips (pVL > 50 copies/mL)

2 [0, 2.3]

1 [0, 2.3]

0.43