Prevalence of HBV/HCV Co-Infection and Associated Risk Factors in People Living with HIV

This study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of HBV/HCV co-infection demographic characteristics of HIV/HBV and HIV/HCV co-infected patients and its risk factors in a group of HIV infected patients followed-up in an infectious diseases and clinical microbiology clinic.

Treatment-naïve patients attending the clinic between January 2015 and June 2018 were included. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, HIV infection risk factors, and laboratory findings were retrospectively evaluated using medical records.

Out of 717 patients, 645 were male with the mean age of 35.94 ± 11.69 years, of whom 270 (37.6%) were late presenters, and 377 (52.5%) were men who had sex with men (MSM). Of the patients, four out of 717 patients (0.5%) had HCV infection, and 32 (4.5%) had HBV co-infection. The heterosexual (HS) patients were significantly more likely to have HBV co-infection (P = 0.03). A comparison of the MSM and HS patients showed that the latter group of patients were significantly older and more likely to be late presenters (P < 0.001). Anti-HBc was positive in 216 of the patients (30.1%) who were considered to have previous exposure to HBV. A comparison of educational status in the patients showed that 70% of the MSM patients were high-school or university graduates (P = 0.008). Moreover, anti-HBs was positive in 65.7% of the MSM patients, and MSM and Heterosexual patients were not significantly different in terms of the presence of resolved HBV infection (P = 0.05).

Our study showed that the prevalence of HBV co-infection among the HIV infected patients was similar to the prevalence of HBV infection in the general population and that patients with the heterosexual route of transmission had higher rates of seropositivity. A high occurrence of co-infections in HS patients suggests that infections are likely to follow a chronic course in those with a delayed diagnosis. MSM patients who were known in the high-risk group for HIV infection, have higher vaccination ratios and education levels. So the efforts to increase awareness must not only be limited to high-risk groups but also all individuals.