Chronic hepatitis B and other correlates of spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus among HIV-infected people with hemophilia.

OBJECTIVE

To identify correlates of spontaneous hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection.

DESIGN

Baseline (2001-2004) analysis of a cohort study of people with hemophilia.

METHODS

Detailed questionnaire data were used to identify dates of primary HCV and HIV infections and to categorize sex; race; alcohol use; interferon treatment; hepatitis B virus (HBV) status; and HIV/AIDS history, treatment and current status. Spontaneous HCV clearance was defined as nondetection of HCV RNA by polymerase chain reaction assay in paired annual plasma, excluding those treated with interferon. Chi-squared, Fisher exact test, and logistic regression were used to identify correlates of clearance.

RESULTS

Among 478 HIV-infected participants, 61 (12.8%) had cleared HCV. Among the 31 participants with chronic HBV (as well as HIV), 16 (51.6%) had cleared HCV. With chronic HBV, HCV clearance was increased 11.2-fold (95% confidence interval, 5.1-24.8), after adjusting for sex, race, and hemophilia severity. Excluding the participants with chronic HBV, the prevalence of HCV clearance was 10.1%; and it was significantly reduced among males (9.7%, P = 0.05), blacks (1.6%, P = 0.01), and participants with severe hemophilia (8.2%, P = 0.02). HCV clearance was not associated with HIV RNA detection in plasma, CD4 cell count, anti-HIV therapy, AIDS history, ages at or years of HIV or HCV infection, or alcohol consumption.

CONCLUSIONS

HCV clearance is unambiguously and markedly increased with chronic HBV infection among HIV co-infected people.