Prevalence of non-infectious comorbidities in the HIV-positive population in Belgium : a multicenter, retrospective study

Objectives: In Belgium, eleven AIDS Reference Centers (ARCs) and seven AIDS Reference Laboratories diagnose and treat HIV-positive individuals and track patients under care. As AIDS-related deaths are avoided and the HIV-positive population ages, non-infectious comorbidities (NICMs), such as cardiovascular disease, renal disease and certain cancers, play a larger role in the quality and length of patients' lives. This study aims to characterize the HIV-positive population in Belgium in terms of the prevalence of key NICMs. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 5787 HIV-positive patien... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Gunter, Jessie
Callens, Steven
De Wit, Stephane
Goffard, Jean-Christophe
Moutschen, Michel
Darcis, Gilles
Meuris, Christelle
van den Bulcke, Charlotte
Fombellida, Karine
del Forge, Marc
Razavi, Homie
Wyndham-Thomas, Chloe
Dokumenttyp: journalarticle
Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
Schlagwörter: Medicine and Health Sciences / HIV / AIDS / cohort studies / non-infectious comorbidities / Belgium / IMMUNODEFICIENCY / DISEASE / CARE / RISK
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28958898
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8527777

Objectives: In Belgium, eleven AIDS Reference Centers (ARCs) and seven AIDS Reference Laboratories diagnose and treat HIV-positive individuals and track patients under care. As AIDS-related deaths are avoided and the HIV-positive population ages, non-infectious comorbidities (NICMs), such as cardiovascular disease, renal disease and certain cancers, play a larger role in the quality and length of patients' lives. This study aims to characterize the HIV-positive population in Belgium in terms of the prevalence of key NICMs. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 5787 HIV-positive patients under follow-up at four ARCs across Belgium between 1st of June 2014 and 1st of July 2016. Results: The mean age of patients under follow-up was 46.7 (SD = 11.6) years, and the mean nadir CD4 count was 268.8 cells/mm3 (SD = 189.5). The prevalence of diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were 5.9, 31 and 7.8%, respectively. Cardiovascular events, defined as the occurrence of myocardial infarction, stroke or an invasive coronary procedure, occurred in 2.9% of patients. The highest age-adjusted mortality rates were observed among patients 51-55 years of age. Mortality rates were also higher among patients with CKD and patients with viremic hepatitis C virus (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Helping the aging HIV-positive population avoids premature morbidity and mortality from NICMs represents a key challenge to further improve patient outcomes. Belgium has an advanced system of HIV care and patient management; however, standardized data collection across ARCs is needed to improve knowledge sharing and to support future countrywide analyses.