Examining the Interplay of COVID-19 and HIV: Impacts on HIV Care, Disparities, and Long-Term Outcomes

For the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative to be successful, it is important to understand any lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of people living with HIV (PWH) and to identify issues at the root of inequities. Post-COVID conditions (PCC) affect ≥10% of people with a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, increasing the risk of incident depression, disability, and cardiovascular events. PWH are likely at greater risk for PCC than persons without HIV due to increased prevalence of comorbidities, psychosocial risk factors, or possibly HIV infection itself. The COVID-19 pandemic was documented to negatively impact access to HIV medical care and social services, exacerbating challenges for PWH with existing barriers to medication adherence and increasing racial disparities in achieving viral load suppression (VLS). In the general population, PCC increased not only healthcare utilization but also care complications and medical distrust, which among PWH has the potential to worsen VLS. Yet, data on the epidemiology of PCC among PWH is limited, and the impact of PCC on inequities in VLS is unknown.

The goal of the proposed study is to understand the impact of biomedical interventions and social determinants on PCC among PWH and to characterize the impact of PCC on disparities in achievement of HIV VLS, while addressing scientific knowledge gaps and methodological limitations of existing research.

Project Investigators