Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Mar;10(3):133-42.
doi: 10.1111/j.1468-1293.2008.00662.x. Epub 2008 Dec 20.

Hazardous drinking is associated with an elevated aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index in an urban HIV-infected clinical cohort

A A Chaudhry  1 , M S Sulkowski, G Chander, R D Moore
Affiliations

Hazardous drinking is associated with an elevated aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index in an urban HIV-infected clinical cohort

A A Chaudhry et al. HIV Med. 2009 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between alcohol consumption and liver fibrosis as assessed by aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) in HIV-infected adults and to explore the relative contributions of alcohol and hepatitis C virus (HCV) to APRI among HIV/HCV-coinfected adults.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data from an observational clinical cohort. Alcohol consumption was categorized according to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism guidelines. We defined significant liver disease as APRI>1.5, and used multinomial logistic regression to identify correlates of increased APRI.

Results: Among 1358 participants, 10.4% reported hazardous drinking. It was found that 11.6% had APRI>1.5, indicating liver fibrosis. Hazardous drinking was associated with increased APRI [adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR) 2.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26-4.17]. Other factors associated with increased APRI were male gender, viral hepatitis, and HIV transmission category of injecting drug use. Among coinfected individuals, 18.3% had APRI>1.5, and hazardous drinking was not associated with APRI. Among non-HCV-infected individuals, 5.3% had APRI>1.5 and hazardous drinking was associated with increased APRI (adjusted RRR 3.72; 95% CI 1.40-9.87).

Conclusions: Hazardous drinking is an important modifiable risk factor for liver fibrosis, particularly among non-HCV-infected patients. Clinicians and researchers must address alcohol use as the burden of liver disease increases among HIV-positive individuals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Weber R, Sabin CA, Friis-Moller N, et al. Liver-related deaths in persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus: the D:A:D study. Arch.Intern.Med. 2006 Aug 14-28;166(15):1632–1641. - PubMed
    1. Thio CL, Seaberg EC, Skolasky R, Jr, et al. HIV-1, hepatitis B virus, and risk of liver-related mortality in the Multicenter Cohort Study (MACS) Lancet. 2002 Dec 14;360(9349):1921–1926. - PubMed
    1. Salmon-Ceron D, Lewden C, Morlat P, et al. Liver disease as a major cause of death among HIV infected patients: role of hepatitis C and B viruses and alcohol. J.Hepatol. 2005 Jun;42(6):799–805. - PubMed
    1. Sulkowski MS, Thomas DL, Chaisson RE, Moore RD. Hepatotoxicity associated with antiretroviral therapy in adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus and the role of hepatitis C or B virus infection. JAMA. 2000 Jan 5;283(1):74–80. - PubMed
    1. Cook RL, Sereika SM, Hunt SC, Woodward WC, Erlen JA, Conigliaro J. Problem drinking and medication adherence among persons with HIV infection. J.Gen.Intern.Med. 2001 Feb;16(2):83–88. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms