Excluded patients (six patients were diagnosed with end stage renal disease before HIV-infection, and the remaining 113 patients had no laboratory data in 2014) were less likely to be smokers, had a shorter duration of HIV infection (7.7 vs. 12.3 years), were less likely to be on antiretroviral treatment (91.5% vs. 97.3%), and had higher nadir CD4 counts and lower viral loads (data not shown). Here, CD4 is linked to stage 5 chronic kidney disease.