During the first year of follow-up, patients not diagnosed with DM had a higher risk of death than those with DM diagnosis, adjusting for sex, age, time-updated absolute CD4 cell count and time-updated ART initiation, with a strong interaction between time-updated DM and ART initiation (aHR 9.3, CI 6.3 to 13.7 in patients not receiving ART; aHR 2.6, CI 1.7 to 4.0 in patients receiving ART). This evidence concerns the gene CD4 and diabetes mellitus.