Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection Associated with All-cause and Liver-related Mortality in HIV-infected Patients with Alcohol Problems
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center(BMC) have found that chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with all-cause and liver-related mortality in a group of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with alcohol problems. The findings appear online/in the current issue of Addiction.
HCV is a known cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Prior studies have confirmed that liver disease is a major cause of death among patients with HIV infection. Persons with HCV are more likely to use alcohol and other drugs compared to those who are uninfected. Prior studies that have examined the association between chronic HCV infection and mortality have often lacked person-level data on alcohol and other drug use.
The researchers analyzed data from a cohort of HIV-infected adults with current or past alcohol problems enrolled between 2001 and 2003, searching for causes of death using the National Death Index.
A total of 397 adults (50 percent HCV-infected) were included in the study. As of December 31, 2009, 83 cohort participants had died (60 HCV-infected, 23 HCV negatives), and 26 of those deaths were liver-related (21 HCV-infected, 5 HCV negatives). “HCV infection was independently associated with all-cause and liver-related mortality, even when adjusting for alcohol and other drug use,” explained lead author Daniel Fuster, MD, a postdoctoral scholar from the Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit at BMC and BUSM.
According to Fuster says “these results underscore that HCV is a risk-factor for all-cause mortality, and not just liver-related death, among patients with HIV with alcohol problems even with adjustment for potential confounders such as alcohol, smoking and other drug use.”
This study was supported by funding from the NIAAA R01-AA13216 and K24-AA015674, and from the NIDA R25-DA13582.