Researchers discovered that those suffering from both hepatitis C and HIV had a higher chance of severe liver disease than patients only being treated for hepatitis C.
HIV patients who are benefiting from antiretroviral therapy (ART) still run the same risk of hepatitis C-associated serious liver disease, a University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine news release reported.
ART has been known to slow down hepatitis C-associated liver fibrosis, but rates of severe liver disease in those infected with both HIV and Hepatitis C receiving the treatment are not yet known.
"Our results suggest that serious consideration should be given to initiating hepatitis C treatment in patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C-particularly among those with advanced liver fibrosis or cirrhosis-in order to try to reduce the risk of serious, potentially life-threatening liver complications," the study's lead author, Vincent Lo Re III, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of Medicine and Epidemiology in the division of Infectious Diseases and department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Penn, and an investigator in the Penn Center for AIDS Research, said in the news release. "By taking action sooner, we may be able to reduce the risk of advanced liver disease in co-infected patients."
The researchers reviewed the electronic records of 4,280 patients who were infected with "HIV and chronic hepatitis C virus" and were being treated with ART; they also looked at 6,079 hepatitis C-only patients.
The study is the "largest comparison to date of liver-related complications between antiretroviral-treated HIV/hepatitis C- co-infected patients and those with hepatitis C-alone," the news release reported.
Hepatitis C is the leading cause of "cirrhosis, liver cancer, and the need for liver transplants," in the U.S., it occurs in between 20 and 20 percent of patients who are also suffering from HIV. More Americans are believed to die from hepatitis C every year than HIV.
