Skip to main content
PLOS One logoLink to PLOS One
. 2021 Dec 1;16(12):e0260251. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260251

Cumulative burden of non-communicable diseases predicts COVID hospitalization among people with HIV: A one-year retrospective cohort study

Michael D Virata 1,*, Sheela V Shenoi 1, Joseph Ladines-Lim 2,3, Merceditas S Villanueva 1, Lydia A Barakat 1
Editor: Manish Sagar4
PMCID: PMC8635326  PMID: 34851963

Abstract

There continue to be conflicting data regarding the outcomes of people with HIV (PWH) who have COVID-19 infection with most studies describing the early epidemic. We present a single site experience spanning a later timeframe from the first report on January 21, 2020 to January 20, 2021 and describe clinical outcomes and predictors of hospitalization among a cohort of PWH in an urban center in Connecticut, USA. Among 103 PWH with controlled HIV disease, hospitalization occurred in 33% and overall mortality was 1%. HIV associated factors (CD4 count, HIV viral suppression) were not associated with hospitalization. Chronic lung disease (OR: 3.35, 95% CI:1.28–8.72), and cardiovascular disease (OR: 3.4, 95% CI:1.27–9.12) were independently associated with hospitalization. An increasing number of non-communicable comorbidities increased the likelihood of hospitalization (OR: 1.61, 95% CI:1.22–2.13).

Introduction

The first laboratory-confirmed case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) secondary to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the United States (US) was reported on January 21, 2020 [1]. A mere 12 months later, there were 24.5 million reported cases, with over 500,000 deaths [2].

Initial reports from China identified a number of risk factors for severe COVID-19 and mortality, including older age, male gender, immunosuppressed status, and co-morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic cardiovascular and respiratory disease [36]. Initially, it was predicted that HIV infection would be a risk factor for severe COVID-19 but studies have had mixed conclusions. The earliest case series showed that clinical outcomes among PWH were not any worse than those for patients without HIV [3, 7, 8] and found no excess risk of morbidity and mortality in symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 co-infected patients with fully suppressed HIV, compared with HIV-uninfected patients [9, 10]. Similarly, a US study matched 21 HIV-infected against 42 HIV-uninfected patients, all hospitalized for COVID-19, and noted no significant difference in clinical course or outcomes [11]. A few months into the pandemic, there was more evidence from several areas in the US that HIV was not being identified as a risk factor for hospitalization [12]. However, a systematic review of 25 published studies of PWH co-infected with SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated that among 252 patients, 65% were hospitalized and 17% required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) [13]. Other studies reported that PWH and COVID had worse outcomes with some suggesting that HIV-related factors such as CD4 count predicted poorer outcomes [1416]. Many of these studies were from the earliest months of the pandemic and may not have reflected subsequent advances in COVID treatment and enhanced prevention efforts (e.g. masking and lockdowns). Given this conflicting data, we sought to evaluate whether PWH diagnosed with COVID-19 were at increased risk of hospitalization and characterize their hospital outcomes using data from the first year of the pandemic.

Methods

Study design and population

The study involved a retrospective chart review of PWH aged 18 years and older who had a laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, defined with a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result, between January 21, 2020, and January 20, 2021. All patients received their HIV care at two ambulatory clinics within the Yale–New Haven Hospital (YNHH) academic medical center in New Haven, Connecticut. The protocol was approved by the Yale University Institutional Review Board and fully complied with ethical practices. As this was a retrospective review of medical records, the requirement for written informed consent was waived. Data were anonymized prior to analysis.

Data sources and analysis

A standardized form was used in abstracting data from electronic medical records (Epic Systems Corporation) including demographic information, co-morbidities, and clinical parameters such as body mass index (BMI), as well as HIV-specific data including AIDS diagnosis, antiretroviral therapy (ART), CD4 cell count and HIV viral load (HIVVL) prior to admission. Among the COVID-specific information items were COVID-19-related symptoms, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results, and COVID-19 management protocols including specific SARS-CoV-2 therapies. Predetermined clinical outcomes included the need to escalate to ICU level of care, and all-cause mortality. HIVVL suppression was defined as <200 copies per milliliter (copies/ml) of blood; history of AIDS, as having had an opportunistic infection or a CD4 count of <200 cells/mm3 or both; and obesity, as BMI>30.

Continuous and categorical variables were summarized as means or medians, and percentages as appropriate, and bivariate analysis was performed to compare hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. Multivariable backward logistic regression identified independent correlates for hospitalization and calculated odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Differences with a p-value less than 0.05 were significant. The analysis used SPSS Version 26.0.

Results

Clinical characteristics of PWH with COVID-19

Among 1,469 PWH receiving care at the two clinics, 103 (7%) had confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The median age was 56 (interquartile range [IQR] 45–62) years—72 PWH (69.9%) were >50 years old, while 17.5% were >65 years old), 46.6% were women, 43.7% were African Americans, and 16.5% were Latinx (Table 1). The median CD4 count was 735 cells/mm3 (IQR 434–928), 98.1% of the patients were prescribed ART, and 92.2% had HIVVL suppression. Among the cohort, 88% had co-morbidities, 51.5% had hypertension; 43.7%, obesity; 34%, chronic lung disease; 27.2%, cardiovascular disease; 27.2%, diabetes mellitus; and 22.3%, chronic kidney disease. While 56.3% of PWH were former smokers, active use of tobacco was documented in 22.3%, alcohol in 27.2%, and illicit substances in 13.6%.

Table 1. Demographics and clinical characteristics of a cohort of PWH and COVID-19 by hospitalization status: 1/21/2020-1/20/2021.

Total (n = 103) Ambulatory (n = 69) Hospitalized (n = 34) p-value OR (95% CI) aOR (95%CI)*
Median age (IQR) 56 (45–62) 55 (42.5–59) 58 (52.3–67.3) 0.40#
Age≥50 yrs, n (%) 72 (69.9) 45 (65.2) 27 (79.4) 0.14
Age>65 yrs, n (%) 18 (17.5) 8 (11.6) 10 (29.4) 0.025 3.18 (1.129.01)
Women, n (%) 48 (46.6) 32 (46.4) 16 (47.1) 0.95
African Americans, n (%) 45 (43.7) 30 (43.5) 15 (44.1) 0.95
Latinx, n (%) 17 (16.5) 13 (18.8) 4 (11.8) 0.27
Median years living with HIV (IQR) 16.5 (9–23.8) 17 (8–25) 16 (10–23) 0.83#
History of AIDS, n (%) 46 (44.7) 30 (43.5) 16 (47.1) 0.75
History of CD4<200 cells/mm3, n (%) 43 (41.8) 28 (40.5) 15 (44.1) 0.77
History of OI, n (%) 24 (23.3) 18 (26.1) 6 (17.6) 0.25
On ART, n (%) 101 (98.1) 67 (97.1) 34 (100) 0.32
Median CD4 count (IQR) 735 (434–928) 718 (397–931) 784 (466–924) 0.67#
Proportion VL suppressed (VL<200), n (%) 95 (92.2) 65 (95.2) 30 (88.2) 0.25
Active smoking, n (%) 23 (22.3) 15 (21.7) 8 (23.5) 0.84
Former smoking, n (%) 58 (56.3) 37 (53.6) 21 (61.8) 0.43
Active substance use, n (%) 14 (13.6) 6 (8.7) 8 (23.5) 0.039 3.2 (1.010.2)
Active alcohol use, n (%) 28 (27.2) 19 (27.5) 9 (26.5) 0.91
Diabetes mellitus, n (%) 28 (27.2) 14 (20.3) 14 (41.2) 0.025 2.75 (1.16.8)
Median HgbA1C (IQR) (n = 50) 7.8 (6.4–8.5) 7.1 (6.2–8.3) 8.3 (6.6–9.0) 0.20#
Chronic lung disease, n (%) 35 (34) 18 (26.1) 17 (50) 0.016 2.83 (1.206.7) 3.35 (1.288.72)
Chronic kidney disease, n (%) 23 (22.3) 10 (14.5) 13 (38.2) 0.007 3.65 (1.399.57)
Cardiovascular disease, n (%) 28 (27.2) 13 (18.8) 15 (44.1) 0.007 3.4 (1.378.42) 3.4 (1.279.12)
Hypertension, n (%) 53 (51.5) 31 (44.9) 22 (64.7) 0.059 2.25 (0.96–5.25)
Hepatitis C, n (%) 23 (22.3) 11 (15.9) 12 (35.3) 0.027 2.88 (1.17.47)
Median BMI (IQR) 28.9 (25.2–34.9) 29.3 (25.7–35.0) 26.8 (24.7–36.0) 0.30#
Obesity (BMI>30), n (%) 45 (43.7) 32 (46.4) 13 (38.2) 0.43
Any co-morbidity, n (%) 93 (90.3) 62 (89.9) 31 (91.2) 0.83
Number of co-morbidities 3 (1–4) 2 (1–3) 4 (2–5) 0.001 * 1.61 (1.222.13)

*Logistic regression

#Mann Whitney U; PWH-persons with HIV; BMI-Body mass index

Comparison of hospitalized vs ambulatory PWH with COVID-19

Hospitalized PWH represented less than 1% of all COVID-19-related admissions to YNHH during the study period. Thirty-four PWH (33.0%) were hospitalized and 69 (67.0%) were managed in the ambulatory setting. In the bivariate analysis, age and multiple co-morbidities such as diabetes, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease, were associated with increased hospitalization (p<0.05). However, in the adjusted analysis (Table 1), those who were hospitalized were more likely to be at least 65 years old (OR: 3.11, 95% CI: 0.97–9.98) and to have chronic lung disease (OR: 3.35, 95% CI: 1.28–8.72) or cardiovascular disease (OR: 3.4, 95% CI: 1.27–9.12). Moreover, incremental numbers of co-morbidities were associated with hospitalization (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.22–2.13). AIDS history and last CD4 count <200 cells/mm3 were not associated with hospitalization. There was no significant difference in ART coverage or HIVVL suppression between inpatients and outpatients.

Clinical course of hospitalized patients

Among those who were hospitalized (Table 2), the most frequently prescribed inpatient therapies for COVID-19 were hydroxychloroquine (47.1%), tocilizumab (23.5%), and remdesivir and steroids (14.7%). A small proportion (14.7%) received lopinavir/ritonavir or atazanavir. During hospitalization, five patients (14.7%) required escalation to ICU level of care, six patients (17.6%) needed intermediate (step-down) care, and four (11.8%) had to be placed on mechanical ventilation. The median length of stay was nine days (IQR 3–15). Only one patient (2.9%) died within 30 days of hospital admission. In a subset of hospitalized patients (n = 15), repeat CD4 counts revealed a decreased median of 417.8 (IQR 186–617) cells/mm3. Repeat HIVVL testing done for 59% of patients showed full viral suppression in 95% of that subset (Table 2).

Table 2. Characteristics of hospitalized patients.
HIV clinical parameters
Median Temperature on admission, degrees C (IQR) 37.5 (36.8–38.2)
Median CD4 Count cells/mm3 during hospitalization (n = 15) 417.8 (186–617)
HIV Viral Suppression during hospitalization (<200 copies/mm3) (n = 20) 19 (95%)
COVID therapy
Hydroxychloroquine 16 (47.1%)
Tocilizumab 8 (23.5%)
Remdesivir 5 (14.7%)
Methylprednisolone 5 (14.7%)
Atazanavir 3 (8.8%)
Lopinavir/ritonavir 2 (5.9%)
Convalescent plasma 0 (0%)
No therapy 6 (17.6%)
Clinical outcomes
Length of Stay (days) 9 (3–15)
Escalation of care to critical care unit 11(32.4%)
    Stepdown: 6 (17.6%)
    ICU: 5 (14.7%)
Mechanical ventilation 4 (11.8%)
Mortality (of hospitalized/all PWH) 1 (2.94%/0.97%)

PWH-persons with HIV

Discussion

This study describes the impact of COVID-19 infection on PWH during the first year of the pandemic at a single urban academic medical center in the US and identifies correlates of hospitalization. Hospitalization is associated with host factors, including older age and individual comorbidities; increasing burden of comorbidities resulted in higher risk of hospitalization.

The predominant co-morbidities for hospitalized patients—chronic lung and cardiovascular disease—were similar to those for patients in other COVID-19 cohorts [12, 1719]. While other studies have demonstrated that diabetes and chronic kidney disease were significantly associated with severe disease and/or poor outcomes, we found that active substance use and Hepatitis C, were significantly correlated on bivariate but not on adjusted analysis, possibly attributable to sample size [4]. Similar to other studies, older age (>65yo) was independently associated with hospitalization. The median age of the cohort was similar to that in other studies and was lower than that of hospitalized HIV-uninfected patients with COVID-19 [8, 12, 17].

With the benefit of ART effectiveness, PWH are living longer, but are increasingly being diagnosed with new and multiple co-morbidities, particularly among communities of color [20]. While there is growing evidence that HIV-associated immunosuppression is not thought to be associated with COVID-19-related hospitalization or death, indirect measures of HIV and aging, as manifested in co-morbidities, still correlate with COVID-19 hospitalization. More recent reports from Moran et al. [21] which were conducted in a similar timeframe as our study, also found that co-morbidity burden was associated with hospitalization in a dose-dependent fashion when comparing hospitalized and nonhospitalized PWH with COVID-19. Sun et al. [22], in a National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) study, looked at a large database of PWH with COVID-19 at US academic medical centers, compared with solid organ transplant patients, again noted that increased hospitalization and mechanical ventilation among PWH was related to the co-morbidity burden and not to specific demographics. However, the odds of hospitalization were observed to be higher for those with HIV compared to those HIV-uninfected.

Despite well-maintained pre-COVID CD4 counts and suppressed HIVVL, HIV-associated immune dysfunction may affect the person’s ability to respond to the exuberant inflammatory reaction, resulting in clinical deterioration from COVID-19 [23]. Yendewa et al. [24] assessed a large US health-care network of 44 facilities where PWH under less intensive ART and with much lower rates of viral suppression had higher odds of hospitalization, ICU admission, and mechanical ventilation, than patients without HIV infection. Co-morbidities were not reported, but the two groups of patients did have comparable 30-day mortality rates. Interestingly, among a subset of our hospitalized patients with CD4 counts performed after admission in this study, there was a significant drop in the absolute CD4 count consistent with nonspecific changes seen in acute illness.

The direct antiviral benefit of ART could be another explanation for less severe disease. A lower risk of hospitalization and severe disease was observed among other cohorts of patients on tenofovir disoproxil [14, 25]. The current study, though limited by sample size, showed no indication that administration of ART had any effect on the clinical course or outcome. Differences in outcomes such as mortality may also have been affected by the variety of care standards used in each unique facility. Maintaining ART resulted in favorable outcomes for the overwhelming majority of patients.

Limitations

We recognize several limitations in this study. First, this was a retrospective review of medical records and missing data may introduce bias. Second, the study was conducted at a single urban academic medical center, and so may not be representative of all PWH. Third, hospitalized cases were identified through a health systems database with laboratory confirmation, leaving open the possibility that there may have been PWH who received their HIV care at our institution but were tested for SARS-CoV-2 or hospitalized elsewhere resulting in an underestimate of the COVID-19 burden among PWH. Fourth, although reports show that COVID-19 disproportionately affects disadvantaged populations [26], the PWH cohort in the current study, consisting largely of minorities and people over 50 years of age with multiple co-morbid conditions achieved overall favorable outcomes, possibly due to ready access to advanced treatments within an academic health center. Next, the PWH in this sample had high CD4 counts and more than 90% HIVVL suppression and may not be generalizable to the global population of PWH. Finally, these data reflect the COVID-19 trends among PWH before the initiation of mass vaccination and the clinical emergence of the delta variant in the US. Vaccination and new SARS-CoV-2 variants may alter risk factors for hospitalization and severe disease [27].

Conclusion

In this retrospective study, we identified 103 PWH coinfected with COVID-19 in an urban US setting who were hospitalized over the first year of the pandemic. Compared with PWH with COVID-19 managed as outpatients, those needing hospitalization were found to be older and have multiple non-communicable disease comorbidities though mortality was low. Notably, increased numbers of comorbidities increased the risk of hospitalization. HIV-attributable factors were not associated with hospitalization for COVID-19.

Supporting information

S1 Table. Demographics and clinical characteristics of PWH with SARS-CoV-2, 1/21/20-1/20/21.

(PDF)

S2 Table. Characteristics of hospitalized PWH.

(PDF)

Acknowledgments

We are we grateful for the editing assistance of Mary-Ann Asico in the preparation of the report. Most importantly, we thank our patients.

Data Availability

All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding Statement

Sheela Shenoi received support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (#201516). The funder did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. All other authors received no specific funding for this work.

References

  • 1.Holshue M, DeBolt C, Lindquist S., Lofy K.H., Wiesman J., Bruce H., et al. 2020. “First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States.” New England Journal of Medicine, 382 (January): 929–36. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University; https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
  • 3.Wu C., Chen X., Cai Y., Xia J., Zhou X., Xu S., et al. 2020. “Risk Factors Associated with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Death in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pneumonia in Wuhan, China.” JAMA Internal Medicine 180, no. 7 (March): 934–943. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.0994 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Mehareen E., Karimi A., Barzegary A., Vahedi F., Afsahi A. M., Dadras O., et al. 2020. “Predictors of mortality in patients with COVID-19—a systematic review.” European Journal of Integrative Medicine. Dec; 40:101226. doi: 10.1016/j.eujim.2020.101226 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Cooper T.J., Woodward B.L., Alom S., Harky A. 2020. “Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes in HIV/AIDS patients: a systematic review. HIV Medicine, 21 (June); 567–577. doi: 10.1111/hiv.12911 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 6.Zhou F., Yu T., Du R., 2020. “Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.” Lancet, (March) 395:1054–1062. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 7.Blanco J. L., Ambrosioni J., Garcia F., Martínez E., Soriano A., Mallolas J., et al. 2020. “COVID-19 in Patients with HIV: Clinical Case Series.” The Lancet HIV 7, no. 5 (May): E314–E316. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(20)30111-9 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 8.Durstenfeld M. S, Sun K., Ma Y., Rodriguez F., Secemsky E. A., Parikh R. V., et al. 2021. “Impact of HIV Infection on COVID-19 Outcomes among Hospitalized Adults in the U.S.” medRxiv preprint (April). doi: 10.1101/2021.04.05.21254938 Preprint. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 9.Gervasoni C., Meraviglia P., Riva A., Giacomelli A., Oreni L., Minisci D., et al. 2020. “Clinical Features and Outcomes of Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus with COVID-19.” Clinical Infectious Diseases 71, no. 16 (November): 2276–2278. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa579 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 10.Härter G., Spinner C. D., Roider J., Bickel M., Krznaric I., Grunwald S., et al. 2020. “COVID-19 in People Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A Case Series of 33 Patients.” Infection 48, no. 5 (October): 681–686. doi: 10.1007/s15010-020-01438-z [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 11.Karmen-Tuohy S., Carlucci P. M., Zacharioudakis I. M., Zervou F. N., Rebick G., Klein E., et al. 2020. “Outcomes among HIV-Positive Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19.” (2020) Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. 85(1) (Sept) 6–10 doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002423 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 12.Sigel K., Swartz T., Golden E., Paranjpe I., Somani S., Richter F., et al. 2020. “Coronavirus 2019 and People Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus: Outcomes for Hospitalized Patients in New York City. Clinical Infectious Diseases 71, no. 11 (December): 2933–2938. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa880 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 13.Mirzaei H., McFarland W., Karamouzian M., and Sharifi H. 2020. “COVID-19 among People Living with HIV: A Systematic Review.” AIDS and Behavior, 25, no. 1 (July): 85–92. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 14.Boulle A., Davies M-A., Hussey H., Ismail M., Morden E., Vundle Z., et al. 2021. “Risk Factors for COVID-19 Death in a Population Cohort Study from the Western Cape Province, South Africa.” Clinical Infectious Diseases 5;73(7) (October). doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1198 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 15.Geretti A.M., Stockdale A. J., Kelly S. H., Cevik M., Collins S., Waters L., et al. 2021. “Outcomes of Conoravirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) Related Hospitalization Among People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the ISARIC World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Characterization Protocol (UK): A Prospective Observation Study.” Clinical Infectious Diseases 73(7) (October):e2095–e2106 doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1605 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 16.Baskaran K., Rentsch C.T., MacKenna B., Schultze A., Mehrkar A., Bates C. J., et al. 2021. “HIV infection and COVID-19 death: a population-based cohort analysis of UK primary care data and linked national death registrations within the OpenSAFELY platform.” Lancet HIV. 8(1) (January):e24–e32. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(20)30305-2 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 17.Docherty A. B., Harrison E. M., Green C. A., Hardwick H. E., Pius R., Norman L., et al. “Features of 20,133 UK Patients in hospital with COVID-19 Using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol: prospective observational cohort study.” 2020. BMJ 369:m1985. (May) doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1985 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 18.Huang C., Wang Y., Li X., Ren L., Zhao J., Hu Y., et al. 2020. “Clinical Features of Patients Infected with 2019 Novel Coronavirus in Wuhan, China.” Lancet 395, no. 10223 (February): 497–506. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 19.Garg S., Kim L., Whitaker M., O’Halloran A., Cummings C., Holstein R., et al. 2020. “Hospitalization Rates and Characteristics of Patients Hospitalized with Laboratory-Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019—COVID-NET, 14 States, March 1–30, 2020.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 69, no. 15 (April): 458–464. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6915e3 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 20.Gallant J., Hsue P.Y., Shreay S., and Meyer N. 2017. “Comorbidities among US Patients with Prevalent HIV Infection: A Trend Analysis.” Journal of Infectious Diseases 216, no. 12 (December): 1525–1533. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jix518 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 21.Moran C. A., Oliver N., Szabo B. V., Collins L. F., Nguyen M. L., Shah S., et al. 2021. “Comorbidity Burden Is Associated with Hospitalization for COVID-19 among PWH.” Paper presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (virtual), March 6–10. [Google Scholar]
  • 22.Sun J., Patel R., Madhira V., Olex A. L., French E., Islam J. Y., et al. 2021. “COVID-19 Hospitalization among People with HIV or Solid Organ Transplant in the US.” Paper presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (virtual), March 6–10. [Google Scholar]
  • 23.Zhao J., Liao X., Wang H., Wei L., Xing M., Liu L., et al. 2020. “Early Virus Clearance and Delayed Antibody Response in a Case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) with a History of Coinfection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 and Hepatitis C Virus. Clinical Infectious Diseases 71, no. 16 (November): 2233–2235. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa408 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 24.Yendewa G. A., Perez J. A., Schlick K. A., Tribout H. A., and McComsey G. A. 2021. “Characterizing COVID-19 Presentation and Clinical Outcomes in HIV Patients in the US.” Abstract presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (virtual), March 6–10. [Google Scholar]
  • 25.Del Amo J., Polo E., Moreno S., Díaz A., Martínez E., Arribas J. R., et al. 2021. “Incidence and Severity of COVID-19 in HIV-Positive Persons Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy.” Annals of Internal Medicine 174, no. 4 (April): 581–582. doi: 10.7326/L20-1399 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 26.Webb Hooper M., Nápoles A. M., and Pérez-Stable E. J. 2020. “COVID-19 and Racial/Ethnic Disparities.” Journal of the American Medical Association 323, no. 24 (June): 2466–2467. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.8598 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 27.SeyedAlinaghi S. A., Mirzapour P., Dadras O., Pashaei Z., Karimi A., MohsseniPour M., et al. 2021. “Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 diferent variants and related morbidity and mortality: a systematic review.” European Journal of Medical Research., 8; 26(1) (June):51. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Decision Letter 0

Manish Sagar

13 Sep 2021

PONE-D-21-24226Increasing Numbers of Non-communicable Disease Co-morbidities: Major Risk Factors for Hospitalization among a Cohort of People with HIV and  COVID-19 CoinfectionPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Virata,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the minor points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Oct 28 2021 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

  • A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.

  • A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.

  • An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Manish Sagar, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf

2. In your Data Availability statement, you have not specified where the minimal data set underlying the results described in your manuscript can be found. PLOS defines a study's minimal data set as the underlying data used to reach the conclusions drawn in the manuscript and any additional data required to replicate the reported study findings in their entirety. All PLOS journals require that the minimal data set be made fully available. For more information about our data policy, please see http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability.

Upon re-submitting your revised manuscript, please upload your study’s minimal underlying data set as either Supporting Information files or to a stable, public repository and include the relevant URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers within your revised cover letter. For a list of acceptable repositories, please see http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-recommended-repositories. Any potentially identifying patient information must be fully anonymized.

Important: If there are ethical or legal restrictions to sharing your data publicly, please explain these restrictions in detail. Please see our guidelines for more information on what we consider unacceptable restrictions to publicly sharing data: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-unacceptable-data-access-restrictions. Note that it is not acceptable for the authors to be the sole named individuals responsible for ensuring data access.

We will update your Data Availability statement to reflect the information you provide in your cover letter.

3. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The work describes Increasing Numbers of Non-communicable Disease Co-morbidities: ‎Major Risk Factors for Hospitalization among a Cohort of People with HIV and COVID-19 ‎Coinfection. The manuscript is well organized and addresses the topic sufficiently. Tables ‎are suitable for description. The authors are suggested to apply the following comments in ‎the manuscript:‎

‎1.‎ Importantly, the authors need to significantly improve the writing.‎

‎2.‎ Keywords are not standard. Please match the keywords with the mesh.‎

‎3.‎ The addressed problem is not clear. Give more emphasis on the problems and the gap ‎you intend to fill. ‎

‎4.‎ Refer to the following articles in the introduction:‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32556781/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33101547/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33363000/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33357637/‎

‎5.‎ The journal framework is not followed. ‎

‎6.‎ The limitations of the research are not mentioned.‎

‎7.‎ In the discussion section, you should fully discuss the study findings with the findings ‎of other related studies. In this section, you can use the following resources to enrich ‎the content of the discussion.‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34103090/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34016183/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34217366/‎

Reviewer #2: I think this work adds to the growing body of literature supporting that HIV in of itself is not a driver of poor Covid-19 outcomes among people with HIV. 2 things I would suggest:

- can you specifically comment on the renal status of this cohort? Renal disease is more common among PWH and has been associated with poor Covid-19 outcomes.

- I recommend changing the title, it's a bit confusing

**********

6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Richard Jason Silvera

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PLoS One. 2021 Dec 1;16(12):e0260251. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260251.r002

Author response to Decision Letter 0


3 Nov 2021

November 1, 2021

Manish Sagar MD

Academic Editor

Plos One

Dear Dr. Sagar,

On behalf of all the authors, we are thankful for the careful review of our manuscript “Increasing Numbers of Non-communicable Disease Comorbidities Increases Risk for Hospitalization among People with HIV and COVID-19.”

We have now revised the manuscript incorporating all the reviewers’ feedback and below include a point by point response to the reviewers’ comments. We believe the manuscript has been strengthened as a result of this review and hope that you now find it suitable for publication.

Please do not hesitate to let us know if there are any questions. We look forward to your final decision.

Sincerely

Michael D. Virata, MD

We thank the reviewers for their thorough and constructive critique.

Reviewer's Responses to Questions:

Comments to the Author



1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Response: We thank the reviewers for the positive feedback

2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Response: We appreciate the reviewer’s acceptance of our statistical analysis

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Response: We thank the reviewer for their finding our data are appropriately displayed, available and accurate

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Response: We appreciate the constructive feedback provided by the reviewers. We have made significant changes in the writing of the manuscript to make it more suitable for publication as highlighted in the attached revision. In addition, please refer to our detailed and point by point response below.

Reviewer #1: The work describes Increasing Numbers of Non-communicable Disease Co-morbidities: ‎Major Risk Factors for Hospitalization among a Cohort of People with HIV and COVID-19 ‎Coinfection. The manuscript is well organized and addresses the topic sufficiently. Tables ‎are suitable for description. The authors are suggested to apply the following comments in ‎the manuscript:‎
‎

1.‎ Importantly, the authors need to significantly improve the writing.‎
:

Response: Thank you for this suggestion. We have substantially revised the manuscript to improve the writing and enhance the readability as highlighted in the attached manuscript.

2.‎ Keywords are not standard. Please match the keywords with the mesh.

Response: Thank you for this comment. We have clarified the keywords in accordance with the journal instructions and hope these are appropriate. We will seek additional guidance from the editorial team.

3.‎ The addressed problem is not clear. Give more emphasis on the problems and the gap ‎you intend to fill. ‎
‎

Response: Thank you for this feedback. We have revised the introduction to directly state the gap that we are addressing in this manuscript as reflected in the attached updated version.

4.‎ Refer to the following articles in the introduction

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32556781/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33101547/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33363000/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33357637/‎

‎Response: Thank you for these suggested references. We have selected and incorporated the reference on the predictors of mortality in patients with COVID-19---a systematic review into the introduction . Although we learned from reviewing the other references, we did not include all of them since they were not directly related to our study. We look forward to optimizing the manuscript with further clarification from the reviewer.

5.‎ The journal framework is not followed. ‎

Response: We appreciate this feedback. We have reviewed and revised the font of the headings, in line with journal instructions.

‎6.‎ The limitations of the research are not mentioned.‎

Response: Thank you for this feedback. We have emphasized the limitations in the discussion section of the study.

‎7.‎ In the discussion section, you should fully discuss the study findings with the findings ‎of other related studies. In this section, you can use the following resources to enrich ‎the content of the discussion.‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34103090/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34016183/‎

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34217366/‎

Response: Thank you for these suggested references. We have incorporated the article reviewing COVID-19 variants. However, the articles discussing genetic susceptibility and impact of COVID-19 prevention measures on other infections are both beyond the scope of our study.

Reviewer #2: I think this work adds to the growing body of literature supporting that HIV in of itself is not a driver of poor Covid-19 outcomes among people with HIV. 2 things I would suggest:


1. can you specifically comment on the renal status of this cohort? Renal disease is more common among PWH and has been associated with poor Covid-19 outcomes.


Response: Thank you for this important question. Chronic kidney disease was prevalent in our patient sample and significantly associated with hospitalization for COVID-19, though was not an independent correlate. We have now stated this in the discussion to address this comment.

2. I recommend changing the title, it's a bit confusing

Response: Thank you for this feedback. We agree that the title could be improved, and we have changed the title to make it more concise.

Attachment

Submitted filename: ResponseLetter1Nov2021PLoSONEHIVandCOVID.doc

Decision Letter 1

Manish Sagar

8 Nov 2021

Cumulative burden of non-communicable diseases predicts COVID hospitalization  among people with HIV:   A one-year retrospective cohort study

PONE-D-21-24226R1

Dear Dr. Virata,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Manish Sagar, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Acceptance letter

Manish Sagar

18 Nov 2021

PONE-D-21-24226R1

Cumulative burden of non-communicable diseases predicts COVID hospitalization  among people with HIV:   A one-year retrospective cohort study

Dear Dr. Virata:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Dr. Manish Sagar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Supplementary Materials

    S1 Table. Demographics and clinical characteristics of PWH with SARS-CoV-2, 1/21/20-1/20/21.

    (PDF)

    S2 Table. Characteristics of hospitalized PWH.

    (PDF)

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: ResponseLetter1Nov2021PLoSONEHIVandCOVID.doc

    Data Availability Statement

    All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.


    Articles from PLoS ONE are provided here courtesy of PLOS

    RESOURCES