PLWH, Aging and the Effects of COVID-19 Outcomes

PLWH may have an accelerated aging process and this could affect the severity of COVID-19. Investigators from the University of South Carolina and the University of Washington wanted to see if this population were more likely to have a more severe case of COVID-19. Adverse outcomes were identified as hospitalization and mortality.

Based upon their study’s findings, they wrote, Impact of Aging in HIV on COVID-19 Outcomes via a Matched Study, a poster that was presented at the 2022 Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection (CROI).

The investigators utilized the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) to identify COVID-19 patients. From the N3C, 2,422,864 adults diagnosed with COVID-19 were identified between Jan 1, 2020, and Oct 18, 2021. Within this cohort, 15,188 were PLWH.

The investigators matched the PLWH and non-PLWH COVID-19 based on age, gender, race and ethnicity.

“ PLWH had higher odds of both adverse COVID-19 outcomes [hospitalization: OR: 1.50, 95%CI: (1.42, 1.58); death: OR: 1.48, 95%CI: (1.29, 1.69)],” the investigators wrote. Specifically, PLWH with a recent CD4 count < 200 had worse COVID- 19 clinical outcomes, they reported.

Of the PLWH, 6,219 (40.9%) had CD4 count records within 180 days prior to COVID-19 diagnosis, among which, 872 (14.0%) had the most recent CD4 count <200 cells/mm3 while 5,347 (86.0%) had CD4 counts ≥200 cells/mm3.

“Compared to non-PLWH, PLWH had significantly high COVID-19 related mortality and hospitalization,” the investigators concluded.