The CD4 percentage (CD4%) is the percentage of white blood cells (lymphocytes) that are CD4 cells.
The immune system contains lots of different cells. The two main types of lymphocytes are T cells and B cells. CD4 cells are a type of T cell. So the CD4% looks at the CD4 count in relation to other immune cells.
CD4% is sometimes a more stable indication of whether there has been a change in the immune system. If the percentage hasn’t changed the change in the absolute count is not important.
The normal range for HIV-negative adults is 30% to 60%; people with HIV often have a lower percentage. A percentage below 14% indicates an AIDS diagnosis. CD4 percentage, rather than CD4 count, is used to monitor disease progression in children.
CD4% is sometimes a more stable indication of whether there has been a change in the immune system. If the percentage hasn’t changed the change in the absolute count is not important.
- A CD4% of 12-15% is about the same as a count of under 200 cells/mm3.
- A CD4% of 29% is about the same as a count of over 500 cells/mm3, but there is a wider range for higher values.
- The average normal CD4 percentage for someone who is HIV negative is about 40%. The normal range is anywhere from about 25% to 65%.
The CD4% count is also used to monitor children under 12 years old. This is because babies are born with very high CD4 levels. A baby can have a CD4 count that is 3000 cells/mm3.
People with HIV often have a lower percentage. A percentage below 14% indicates an AIDS diagnosis.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get your interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
In addition to using a test to count the number of CD4 cells, doctors sometimes measure the proportion of all white blood cells that are CD4 cells. This is called a CD4 cell percentage. Although it’s not recommended that CD4 percentages are used as a general indicator of the health of an adult’s immune system, there can be situations where it is a useful measurement. For example, if your CD4 percentage is very different to your CD4 cell count, it might be a sign of another health problem.
One circumstance when your doctor might measure your CD4 cell percentage could be if there is a big variation in your CD4 cell count between one test and the next. CD4 percentages are less likely to fluctuate than CD4 counts.
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report, and we'll interpret and provide you with recommendations today.
Get Started
Monthly plan
Annual plan
Own it for life
Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.
We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.
$15 /month
billed every month
Most popular
Data entry included
$79 /year
$6.60/month billed annually
Data entry included
$250 /once
own it for life
Are You a Health Professional?
Get started with our professional plan
Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.
Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more
Pro Monthly Plus
for health professionals
$75 per month
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
% CD 3 Pos. Lymph., % CD 4 Pos. Lymph., % CD 8 Pos. Lymph., % CD3+CD25+ Lymphs, % CD8+CD57+ Lymphs, % NK (CD56/16), Ab NK (CD56/16), Abs.CD3+CD25+ Lymphs, Abs.CD8+CD57+ Lymphs, Absolute CD 3, Absolute CD 4 Helper, Absolute CD 8 (Supp), CD 19, CD 2, CD 20, CD 3, CD 4, CD 4:8, CD 5, CD 7, CD 8, CD16, CD16+, CD19+, CD3+, CD4+, CD4/CD8 Ratio, CD56, CD56+, CD8+, kappa, lambda
