Assessment of coronary inflammation in antiretroviral treated people with HIV infection and active HIV/hepatitis C virus co-infection.

Objective: People with HIV (PWH) and co-infected with hepatitis C virus (PWH + HCV) have increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Peri-coronary inflammation, measured by fat attenuation index (FAI) on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), independently predicts cardiovascular risk in the general population but has not been studied in the PWH + HCV population. We tested whether peri-coronary inflammation is increased in PWH or PWH + HCV, and whether inflammation changes over time.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis to determine FAI differences among groups. Longitudinal analysis in PWH to assess changes in inflammation over time.

Methods: Age-matched and sex-matched seropositive groups (PWH and PWH + HCV) virologically suppressed on antiretroviral therapy, HCV viremic, and without prior CVD and matched controls underwent CCTA. Peri-coronary FAI was measured around the proximal right coronary artery (RCA) and left anterior descending artery (LAD). Follow-up CCTA was performed in 22 PWH after 20.6-27.4 months.

Results: A total of 101 participants (48 women) were studied (60 PWH, 19 PWH + HCV and 22 controls). In adjusted analyses, peri-coronary FAI did not differ between seropositive groups and controls. Low attenuation coronary plaque was significantly less common in seropositive groups compared with controls (LAD, P = 0.035; and RCA, P = 0.017, respectively). Peri-coronary FAI values significantly progressed between baseline and follow-up in PWH (RCA: P = 0.001, LAD: P = <0.001).

Conclusion: PWH and PWH + HCV without history of CVD do not have significantly worse peri-coronary inflammation, assessed by FAI, compared with matched controls. However, peri-coronary inflammation in mono-infected PWH significantly increased over approximately 22 months. FAI measures may be an important imaging biomarker for tracking asymptomatic CVD progression in PWH.