Effective management of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV)
coinfection warrants special emphasis on interactions between direct acting
antivirals (DAAs) and antiretroviral
therapy (ART) along with maintenance of treatment compliance. All HIV-HCV coinfected adult patients (2015-2020) were included in this real-life retrospective study. Prevalence of
coinfection, proportion of coinfected patients treated, compliance rate, sustained virological response at week 12 (SVR12) after the end of
therapy, and adverse events were assessed. Among 4578 HIV patients, 232 (5.1%) had HCV
coinfection. Ninety-two (39.7%) were intravenous drug users. One hundred twenty-eight (55.1%) patients presented to the liver clinic. Seventy-six (32.8%) patients [mean age: 36.6 ± 10.4 years; 65 (85.5%) males; mean CD4 count: 396 ± 246 cells/mL] completed DAA
therapy, whereas 52 (22.4%) patients defaulted and 75 (32.3%) were lost to follow-up. Sixty-seven (82.2%) patients had
chronic hepatitis and 9 (11.8%) had compensated
cirrhosis. Median (range) HCV-
RNA was 5.9 × 106 IU/mL (2.4 × 105-9.9 × 105). Among 15 (19.5%) treatment experienced patients, 14 were pegylated
interferon experienced and one was NS5A-inhibitor experienced. ART regimens comprised a combination of
tenofovir (T),
lamivudine (L),
efavirenz (E),
nevirapine (N), and/or
zidovudine (Z) at dosage and modifications as applicable [TLE: 63 (82.9%), ZLN:11 (14.5%), and ZLE: 2 (2.6%)]. Overall, 74 (97.4%) out of 76 patients who completed DAA
therapy achieved SVR12. Adverse events were minor and well-tolerated. HIV-HCV-coinfected patients demonstrate excellent SVR12 and tolerability with available DAAs, with no major adverse events.