COVID-19 in People Living with HIV

PURPOSE: The current COVID-19 pandemic affects all strata of the population. Particular interest is the study of the course of this pathology in people with comorbidity. The purpose of our research is to study the features of the course of a COVID-19 people living with HIV (PLHIV). METHODS & MATERIALS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data of 121 patients with HIV infection treated for COVID-19 in 2020. Among PLHIVS, 87.6% were treated with antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection an average of 5.8 years. RESULTS: It was found that 45.5% were women and 54.5% were men. The average age was 41 years old (IQR: 20-78 years). The greatest number of cases was observed among both men and women in the age category of 30-49 years (74.2% and 72.7%, respectively). In the studied group, in 63.4%, in addition to HIV infection, patients suffered from other concomitant diseases, the most frequent of which were chronic lung diseases (22.3%), hypertension (18.2%), metabolic disorders (13.2%). In all cases, the COVID-19 disease occurred with a clinical manifestation. The most common symptoms were fever (76.0%), cough (63.6%) and sore throat (56.2%), loss of taste and smell was detected in 49.6% of cases. In 48.8%, COVID-19 in PLHIV was mild. In 88.1%, the duration of the disease did not exceed 14 days. Moderate forms were noted in 40.5% of cases. 10.7% of cases have severe form of COVID-19. The fatal outcomes were recorded in 8 patients, while in the group of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, the mortality rate was 3.8%, and in the group without antiretroviral therapy therapy - 26.7%. CONCLUSION: We estimated that the proportion of deaths in patients with HIV infection is higher than in the general population (2.2%). PLHIV are a vulnerable group in relation to the risk of death from COVID-19.