Small study shows HIV patients not at a greater risk for worse outcomes.
In a small hospital study, HIV patients who were hospitalized for coronavirus (COVID-19) fared better compared to a HIV-negative population.
“People living with HIV (PLWH) had fewer deaths and did not experience worse outcomes than HIV-negative patients, suggesting HIV is not a negative prognostic indicator in COVID-19, “ the investigators wrote.
The findings, presented during the
Whereas, much has been discussed in terms of patients with COVID-19 and comorbidities, and how they often struggle and deal with a greater severity in dealing with virus.
Ming Lee led a team of investigators who looked at hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This was a retrospective study comparing PLWH and HIV-negative patients. Both patient groups had been admitted to the hospital between March 1 and April 30 and were diagnosed with COVID-19. Matching was blinded to outcomes, up to a 3:1 ratio, by test date (±7 days), age (±5 years), gender, and deprivation index decile (±1).
The team’s primary endpoint was defined as the time covering COVID-19 diagnosis to '¥2 points improvement from baseline on an ordinal scale [1 being not hospitalized and able to do normal activities, and 7 being death or palliation].
In the follow-up, which was carried out within 28 days, there were 0 deaths amongst the PLWH patient group and 5 deaths HIV-negative group. Fourteen (82%) people in the PLWH group were discharged and 37 (74%) in the HIV-negative group were discharged from the hospital. From the PLWH group, 13 (76%) experienced '¥2 points improvement and 34 (68%) from the HIV negative group also realized this improvement.
Interestingly, the media time to improvement was 5 days in the PLWH group and 9.5 days in the HIV negative group. And the former group was more likely to reach the primary endpoint (HR=2.67; 95% CI 1.21'5.91, p=0.015).
