SARS-CoV-2 and HIV co-infection; clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment strategies: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Masoud Dadashi; Ali Dadashi; Fatemeh Sameni; Shahram Sayadi; Mehdi Goudarzi; Mohammad Javad Nasiri; Somayeh Yaslianifard; Mona Ghazi; Reza Arjmand; Bahareh Hajikhani

doi:10.1016/j.genrep.2022.101624

SARS-CoV-2 and HIV co-infection; clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment strategies: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Gene Rep. 2022 Jun:27:101624. doi: 10.1016/j.genrep.2022.101624. Epub 2022 May 19.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.
² Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.
³ Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Anesthessiology Research Center, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁶ Department of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.

Abstract

Background and aim: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who has a compromised immune system can be associated with more significant risks for severe complications. To date, no comprehensive study has been performed to evaluate HIV in patients with COVID-19. In the present study, we assessed the status of patients co-infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and HIV as a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: A systematic literature search strategy was conducted via reviewing original research articles published in Medline, Web of Science, and Embase databases in 2019 and 2020. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA software, version 14.0 (Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas, USA), to report the prevalence of HIV among patients with COVID-19. Case reports/case series were also evaluated as a systematic review.

Results: Sixty-three studies (53 case reports/case series and ten prevalence studies) were included in our study. A meta-analysis of prevalence studies showed that HIV infection among patients with COVID-19 was reported in 6 countries (Uganda, China, Iran, USA, Italy, and Spain) with an overall frequency of 1.2% [(95% CI) 0.8-1.7] among 14,424 COVID-19 patients. According to the case reports and case series, 111 patients with HIV have been reported among 113 patients with COVID-19 from 19 countries. Most of the cases were in the USA, China, Italy, and Spain.

Conclusion: The small number of SARS-CoV-2-HIV co-infected patients reported in the literature makes it difficult to draw precise conclusions. However, since people with HIV are more likely to develop more severe complications of COVID-19, targeted policies to address this raised risk in the current pandemic should be considered. Our findings highlight the importance of identifying underlying diseases, co-infections, co-morbidities, laboratory findings, and beneficial treatment strategies for HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: 2019 novel coronavirus; CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; COVID-19; COVID-19, Coronavirus disease 2019; Co-infection; HIV; HIV, Human immunodeficiency virus; Meta-analysis; SARS-CoC-2, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; WHO, World Health Organization.