The Era of DAAs: Assessing the Patients’ Characteristics, Clinical Impact, and Emergence of Comorbidities in HIV/HCV-Coinfected versus HIV-Infected Individuals

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether HIV-infected individuals versus individuals with HIV/HCV coinfection, in the era of interferon-free therapies, exhibit an increased incidence of comorbidities and non-AIDS-related events. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted by collecting data from clinical records of Spanish patients at a tertiary hospital involving HIV/HCV-coinfected and HIV-infected patients, all with effectively controlled HIV. Coinfected patients underwent HCV clearance using direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) and had no history of interferon treatment. The incidences of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, liver disease, non-AIDS cancer, and death were compared between the groups. Multivariate adjustments for all factors potentially impacting outcomes were used to assess the risk of clinical event onset. Propensity score (PS) analyses were also conducted to support the multivariate model results. Results: Data were available from 229 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients and 229 HIV-infected patients. Both cohorts were comparable in terms of age, gender distribution, follow-up, and HIV-related characteristics. Multivariate models and PS showed that previous exposure to HCV was not associated with the onset of any clinical events studied. Significant differences between HIV/HCV-coinfected and HIV-infected were not found for survival according to the log-rank test (p = 0.402). Conclusions: Successful HCV elimination using DAAs improved the outlook regarding comorbidities and survival across HIV/HCV-coinfected cohorts. Early HCV detection and DAA therapy could enhance clinical results. These findings provide an optimistic perspective for those living with HIV/HCV coinfection and underscore the importance of continuing efforts toward early detection and DAA treatment initiation.