Table 1.
Characteristics of HIV-HCV positive and HCV infected patients at liver biopsy
| Factor | HCV monoinfected (n=153) | HIV-HCV coinfected (n=55) | p Value |
| Male | 110 (71.89%) | 40 (72.72%) | 0.90 |
| Caucasian | 145 (95.27%) | 50 (90.90%) | 0.20 |
| Estimated age at HCV infection (y) (median (IQR)) | 23 (19–29) | 21 (17–24) | 0.04 |
| Age at biopsy (y) (median (IQR)) | 39.75 (34–46) | 37.56 (32–41) | 0.08 |
| Route of HCV transmission | 0.79 | ||
| Injecting drug user | 117 (76.47%) | 43 (78.18%) | |
| Transfusion | 36 (23.52%) | 12 (21.82%) | |
| Duration of HCV infection (y) (median (IQR)) | 15 (11–20) | 16 (9–20) | 0.19 |
| 0–10 | 36 (23.52%) | 18 (32.72%) | |
| 11–20 | 79 (51.63%) | 30 (54.45%) | |
| 21–30 | 29 (18.95%) | 7 (12.72%) | |
| >30 | 9 (5.88%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Maximum alcohol consumption before biopsy (unit/week) | 0.02 | ||
| None | 80 (52%) | 37 (67%) | |
| 1–20 | 39 (26%) | 14 (26%) | |
| >20 | 33 (22%) | 4 (7%) | |
| ALT at liver biopsy (IU/l) (median (IQR)) | 80 (47–133) | 73 (43–111) | 0.45 |
| HCV genotype | |||
| 1 | 48 (53%) | 9 (53%) | |
| 2,3,4 | 44 (47%) | 8 (47%) | |
| CD4 cell count at biopsy (median (IQR)) | — | 320 (200–496) | — |
| Use of antiretroviral therapy* | — | 39 (70.90%) | |
| Liver histology17 | |||
| Inflammatory grade (median (IQR)) | 4 (3–5) | 5 (4–7) | 0.002 |
| 0–5 | 127 (83%) | 31 (56%) | |
| 6–18 | 27 (18%) | 24 (44%) | |
| Fibrosis stage (median (IQR)) | 2 (1–3) | 3 (1–4) | |
| 0 | 13 (8.96%) | 2 (3.63%) | 0.006 |
| 1 | 53 (34.64%) | 14 (25.45%) | |
| 2 | 41 (26.79%) | 11 (20.00%) | |
| 3 | 23 (15.03%) | 12 (21.81%) | |
| 4 (cirrhosis) | 23 (15.03%) | 16 (30.18%) | |
HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; IQR, interquartile range.
*35 patients were receiving HAART at the time of biopsy; 22 were on protease inhibitor based regimens and 13 on non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor based regimens.