Incidence of
endstage liver disease (ESLD) among HIV-positive people with viral hepatitis changed
little between 1996 and 2010, despite major improvements in HIV treatment and
care, investigators from Canada and the United States report in the online
edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Over 36,000 people were included in the
analysis. There was little evidence that the major advances in HIV therapy that
occurred during the study period had a meaningful impact on incidence of ESLD,
which remained high among people with hepatitis B virus (HBV)
and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection. Even in the modern antiretroviral era (2006-2010), over a third of people with HBV were not taking tenofovir –
a drug potent against both HIV and HBV – and just 1% of individuals with HCV received therapy against this infection.
“This study is the
largest and longest prospective evaluation of validated ESLD outcomes conducted
in an HIV-infected population,” write the investigators. “ESLD events were
common in all time periods studied and occurred more frequently among those
with viral hepatitis co-infection.”
Glossary
- ascites
An accumulation of fluid in the abdomen; may be caused by liver damage, especially cirrhosis.
- decompensated cirrhosis
The later stage of
cirrhosis, during which the liver cannot perform some vital functions and
complications occur. See also ‘cirrhosis’ and ‘compensated cirrhosis’.
- encephalopathy
-
A disease or infection affecting the brain.
Endstage liver disease in
this study refers to liver failure leading to liver transplant or
laboratory and clinical evidence of severe fibrosis or a clinical event
indicating decompensated cirrhosis, such as ascites, bacterial
peritonitis, variceal haemorrhage, hepatic encephalopathy or
hepatocellular carcinoma.
Around one in five people living with HIV have co-infection with HCV and between 5 and 15% have co-infection with HBV. Liver disease is a leading cause of serious illness and
death in this group of people.
HIV therapy has
improved dramatically since it was first introduced in 1996, resulting
in greatly improved life expectancy and a steep reduction in illness and
death, but it is unclear
if these gains in antiretroviral treatment have been accompanied by a
fall in
rates of ESLD, especially among people with viral hepatitis
co-infection.
Investigators from
the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD)
therefore designed a prospective observational study to see if incidence of
ESLD as validated by physicians changed according to antiretroviral era – early
(1996-2000), middle (2001-2005) and modern (2006-2010) and by viral hepatitis
co-infection status. Results were adjusted to take account of hepatitis status,
age, sex, race, cohort, CD4 count and HIV viral load.
Adults in 12 cohorts were included in the analysis, the study population comprising
34,119 individuals. Overall, 19% had co-infection with HCV, 5%
with HBV and 2% had triple infection (HIV/HBV/HCV). People were followed for a
median of 2.9 years and contributed 129,818 person-years of follow-up. During
this time there were 380 incident ESLD events, an incidence ratio of 2.9 per
1000 person-years.
Individuals developing ESLD were older, more likely to be male, white, had a history of
injecting drug use, had co-infection with HCV and/or HBV, had evidence of liver
dysfunction or fibrosis at baseline, a low CD4 count and a detectable viral load.
Overall, the
proportion of people developing ESLD did not vary by calendar period or
hepatitis status.
The highest
incidence of ESLD was observed among people with triple infection (11.57 per 1000
person-years), followed by HBV (9.72 per 1000 person-years), HCV (6.10 per 1000
person-years) and HIV mono-infection (1.27 per 1000 person-years). The authors
suggest that ESLD in people with non-infection was probably due to alcohol abuse
and/or the side-effects of older anti-HIV drugs.
Comparison between
the early and modern antiretroviral eras showed here was little if any evidence
in a change of adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRR) of ESLD among people
with viral hepatitis: HCV = 0.95, 95% CI, 0.61-1.47; HBV = 0.95, 95% CI,
0.40-2.26; triple infection = 1.52, 95% CI, 0.46-5.02.
Increasing rates
of HIV suppression were observed over the study period, reaching 85% in the
modern treatment era with no difference in suppression rates according to viral
hepatitis status.
Could the
continuing high rates be explained by suboptimal hepatitis care? There was
some evidence to suggest this could be the case. Only 1% of people with HCV received treatment against this infection, and in the modern
antiretroviral era, 35% of people with HBV were not receiving tenofovir.
“HIV infected
patients co-infected with HBV or HCV are at markedly increased risk of ESLD
compared with those infected with HIV alone,” conclude the investigators. “The
continued high incidence of ESLD despite modern ART underscores the urgent need
to specifically address HCV and HBV infections in HIV-infected adults. Improved
identification, staging, monitoring and treatment of co-infected persons should
be prioritized.”
The author of an
accompanying editorial calls for further studies to investigate the impact of
new HCV therapies on ESLD events in people with HIV/HCV co-infection, adding “a
close follow-up on the effect of cART including drugs active against both HIV
and HBV in HBV/HIV co-infected patients is needed to confirm a reduced risk of
hepatic decompensation in these patients.”