536 - HIV Patients with COVID-19 in the Bronx: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Since the start of the pandemic there has been limited data on mortality in people living with HIV (PLWH) who have Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States (US). We conducted a retrospective review to investigate potential risk factors associated with survival and need for medical ventilation for PLWH and COVID-19.

Methods: This is a retrospective observational cohort from a large academic center across three campuses, conducted from January 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020. Thirty day readmissions were observed from January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020. Our patients were identified by an ICD-10 code (B20) corresponding to HIV and positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. As a primary endpoint, we compared survivors vs. non-survivors. As a secondary endpoint, we compared patients who needed mechanical ventilator (MV) vs. those who did not need MV.

Results: Seventy two PLWH (28 female patients (39%), median [IQR] age was 62 [-/+16] years) had positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests during this retrospective review. Median CD4+ count was 235 cells/ul and 11 (15%) had an HIV viral load >200 copies/mL. The median length of stay was 5 days and 6 patients were directly discharged from the emergency department. Ten patients were readmitted within 30 days with SARS-CoV-2 – like symptoms and 2 are still inpatient. Twenty patients (27.8%) have expired. All non-survivors that expired had an undetectable HIV viral load (0%, p=0.02). The 11 patients with unsuppressed HIV viral loads at the start of the study period all survived, p=0.02. Non-survivors were more likely to have chronic kidney disease CKD (p< 0.01) acute kidney injury (p< 0.01), higher absolute neutrophils (p< 0.01), and elevated IL-6 levels (p< 0.01) compared to survivors. Fifteen patients (20.8%) required mechanical ventilation (MV), 3 (4.1%) of those patients survived. Patients that required MV were more likely to be male (p=0.01) obese (p< 0.01) and had higher absolute neutrophil counts (p=0.01) versus those that did not need MV. Patients with lower CD4 counts (< 200 cells/uL) did not require more mechanical ventilation (p=0.04).Table 1: Demographics, Primary and Secondary Outcome Results


Conclusion: PLWH who had COVID-19 had a high mortality rate. Since all the patients who died had an undetectable HIV viral load across CD4 counts, our study suggests that patients with uncontrolled HIV are not at an increased risk of mortality.