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. 2023 Nov;34(13):978-983.
doi: 10.1177/09564624231191814. Epub 2023 Jul 27.

Are persons living with diagnosed HIV capable of mounting a strong inflammatory response to the new coronavirus?

Anna Maro  1 , Elizabeth M Rosenthal  2 , Marie Abdallah  1 , James Tesoriero  2   3 , Jack Dehovitz  3   4
Affiliations

Are persons living with diagnosed HIV capable of mounting a strong inflammatory response to the new coronavirus?

Anna Maro et al. Int J STD AIDS. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Background: The impact of COVID-19 on persons living with diagnosed HIV (PLWDH) remains incompletely understood. It's unclear whether an impaired immune system offers protection against mounting cytokine storm.

Methods: Retrospective matched cohort study of COVID-19 hospitalized individuals in New York State (NYS). Medical records were abstracted and analyzed for 853 PLWDH hospitalized with COVID-19 in NYS and 1621 HIV-negative controls. Preexisting comorbidities and inflammatory markers measured within 24 h of hospital admission were abstracted.

Results: PLWDH were significantly less likely to have elevated inflammatory markers compared to matched controls. Elevated WBC occurred in 23.3% of PLWDH vs 30.1% of controls (p = .0002), elevated CRP in 37.4% of PLWDH vs 43.2% of controls (p = .03), elevated ferritin in 73.4% of PLWDH vs 78.9% of controls (p = .004). There was an inverse but not statistically significant relationship between the frequency of elevated inflammatory markers and HIV disease stage, with greatest percent of PLWDH with elevated WBC, LDH, CRP, and ferritin among PLWDH with HIV disease stage 1.

Conclusion: PLWDH had lower inflammatory marker elevation during COVID-19 infection compared to matched controls. PLWDH with low CD4 were less likely to mount a cytokine storm in the setting of impaired immune function.

Keywords: COVID-19; HIV disease stage; cytokine storm; immune system; inflammatory markers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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