Soriano V, et al. PS8/1
Background
It is unknown which determine the rate of
spontaneous clearance of HCV in HIV + patients
Goal: To characterize anti-HCV Ab+ HIV-infected
patients within the EuroSIDA cohort with
regard to level of serum HCV-RNA and genotype distribution
Methods
All anti-HCV Ab+, interferon-naive patients
were examined for serum HCV-RNA (lower
limit of detection: 615 IU/ml) and HCV genotype.
Logistic regression was used to identify which
variables were associated with HCV-genotype
1 (HCV-1) infection and spontaneous HCV clearance, after adjustment for demographic, clinical and therapeutic
factors.
Results
Injecting drug users were less likely to have
cleared spontaneously HCV infection compared
to men-having-sex-with-men (22% vs 34%, adjusted odds ratio(aOD)=0.43(95%CI:0.32-0.58), whereas persons
infected with HBV (HBsAg+) were more likely
to have cleared HCV infection (46% in HBsAg+ vs 25% in HBsAg-, aOD=2.48 (95%CI:1.82- 3.38).
Being female (aOD=0.72(0.56-0.92) and older age
[aOD=0.78/10 years older, (0.67-0.92)] were
also independently associated with a lower odds of being infected with HCV-1, whereas having a higher HCV-RNA
level was associated with increased odds of
HCV-1 [1.29/log10 HCV-RNA (1.14-1.47)].
Conclusions
3/4 of HIV patients with detectable anti-HCV Ab
in EuroSIDA show active HCV replication.
Viremia was more likely in injecting drug-users
and in persons not chronically infected
with HBV.
Of patients with active HCV replication, 53%
were infected by HCV-1. HCV-1 infection was
associated with higher HCV-RNA-load and male gender, and less prevalent in Eastern Europe.