Associations of Liver Disease with Alcohol Use among People Living with HIV and the Role of Hepatitis C: The New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV Study - Public Health

February 12, 2020

The primary objective of this study was to assess whether lifetime drinking history and current hazardous or harmful drinking were associated with liver disease as measured by non-invasive markers. Results indicate a greater association of current alcohol use with liver disease than lifetime alcohol use, which varied by HCV status. While HIV/HCV+ co-infected participants seem to engage less in hazardous or risky drinking than HIV/HVC- participants, they were still active alcohol consumers, despite a surplus of evidence on the detrimental effects of HIV, HCV, and alcohol use on the liver. This suggests a need for additional counseling and information dissemination on the topic of alcohol use in this population. These findings stress the importance of reducing alcohol use in PLWH to decrease the risk of liver disease and fibrosis.

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