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
Comparative Study
. 2024 Sep;25(9):1058-1074.
doi: 10.1111/hiv.13662. Epub 2024 Jun 5.

Clinical characteristics of women with HIV in the RESPOND cohort: A descriptive analysis and comparison to men

J Hutchinson  1 , B Neesgard  2 , J Kowalska  3 , K Grabmeier-Pfistershammer  4 , M Johnson  5 , K Kusejko  6 , S De Wit  7 , F Wit  8   9 , C Mussini  10   11 , A Castagna  12 , M Stecher  13 , C Pradier  14 , P Domingo  15 , C Carlander  16 , J Wasmuth  17 , N Chkhartishvili  18 , V Uzdaviniene  19 , A Haberl  20 , A d'Arminio Monforte  11 , H Garges  21 , J Gallant  22 , M Said  23 , B Schmied  4 , M van der Valk  8   9 , D Konopnicki  7 , N Jaschinski  2 , A Mocroft  2   24 , L Greenberg  2 , F Burns  5   24 , L Ryom  2   25   26 , K Petoumenos  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Clinical characteristics of women with HIV in the RESPOND cohort: A descriptive analysis and comparison to men

J Hutchinson et al. HIV Med. 2024 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Women with HIV are globally underrepresented in clinical research. Existing studies often focus on reproductive outcomes, seldom focus on older women, and are often underpowered to assess sex/gender differences. We describe CD4, HIV viral load (VL), clinical characteristics, comorbidity burden, and use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among women with HIV in the RESPOND study and compare them with those of the men in RESPOND.

Methods: RESPOND is a prospective, multi-cohort collaboration including over 34 000 people with HIV from across Europe and Australia. Demographic and clinical characteristics, including CD4/VL, comorbidity burden, and ART are presented at baseline, defined as the latter of 1 January 2012 or enrolment into the local cohort, stratified by age and sex/gender. We further stratify men by reported mode of HIV acquisition, men who have sex with men (MSM) and non-MSM.

Results: Women account for 26.0% (n = 9019) of the cohort, with a median age of 42.2 years (interquartile range [IQR] 34.7-49.1). The majority (59.3%) of women were white, followed by 30.3% Black. Most women (75.8%) had acquired HIV heterosexually and 15.9% via injecting drug use. Nearly half (44.8%) were receiving a boosted protease inhibitor, 31.4% a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, and 7.8% an integrase strand transfer inhibitor. The baseline year was 2012 for 73.2% of women and >2019 for 4.2%. Median CD4 was 523 (IQR 350-722) cells/μl, and 73.6% of women had a VL <200 copies/mL. Among the ART-naïve population, women were more likely than MSM but less likely than non-MSM (p < 0.001) to have CD4 <200 cells/μL and less likely than both MSM and non-MSM (p < 0.001) to have VL ≥100 000 copies/mL. Women were also more likely to be free of comorbidity than were both MSM and non-MSM (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion: RESPOND women are diverse in age, ethnicity/race, CD4/VL, and comorbidity burden, with important differences relative to men. This work highlights the importance of stratification by sex/gender for future research that may help improve screening and management guidelines specifically for women with HIV.

Keywords: HIV; RESPOND; antiretroviral therapy (ART); comorbidity; women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

FB has received lecture fees and a research grant from Gilead, all outside the submitted work.

AC has received honoraria, travel support, consultancy income from Gilaed Sciences, ViiV Healtcare, MSD, Janssen-Gilag all outside the submitted work.

CC has received lecture, moderator, and advisory board fees from GSK/ViiV, Gilead Sciences and MSD and an unrestricted Nordic Fellowship Grant from Gilead Sciences Nordic, all outside the submitted work.

PD has received honoraria, travel support, and consultancy income from ViiV, Gilead, Jansse & Cilag, and MSD, all outside the submitted work.

AH has received honoraria and travel support from Gilead, MSD and ViiV, all outside the submitted work.

KG-P has received honoraria, travel support, and consultancy income from ViiV, Gilead and MSD, all outside the submitted work.

A Moc has received honoraria, travel support, and consultancy income from ViiV, Gilead and Eiland and Bonnin, all outside the submitted work.

MvdV has received fees for participation in scientific advisory boards and research grant from ViiV, Gilead, MSD all paid to his institution.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Curno MJ, Rossi S, Hodges-Mameletzis I, et al. A Systematic Review of the Inclusion (or Exclusion) of Women in HIV Research: From Clinical Studies of Antiretrovirals and Vaccines to Cure Strategies. 2016;71(2):181–88. doi: 10.1097/qai.0000000000000842 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pond RA, Collins LF, Lahiri CD. Sex Differences in Non-AIDS Comorbidities Among People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Open Forum Infect Dis 2021;8(12):ofab558. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofab558 [published Online First: 2021/12/11] - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Loutfy MR, Sherr L, Sonnenberg-Schwan U, et al. Caring for women living with HIV: gaps in the evidence. Journal of the International AIDS Society 2013;16(1):18509–09. doi: 10.7448/IAS.16.1.18509 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kowalska J, Aebi-Popp K, Loutfy M, et al. Promoting high standards of care for women living with HIV: position statement from the Women Against Viruses in Europe Working Group. 2018;19(2):167–73. doi: 10.1111/hiv.12565 - DOI - PubMed
    1. UNAIDS. UNAIDS 2023 epidemiological estimates. 2023