COVID-19 mortality among people with diagnosed HIV compared to those without during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in England.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES\nWe describe COVID-19\xa0mortality among people with and without HIV during the first wave of the pandemic in England.\n\n\nMETHODS\nNational surveillance data on adults (aged ≥\xa015 years) with diagnosed HIV resident in England were linked to national COVID-19\xa0mortality surveillance data (2 March 2020-16 June 2020); HIV clinicians verified linked cases and provided information on the circumstances of death. We present COVID-19\xa0mortality rates by HIV status, using negative binomial regression to assess the association between HIV and mortality, adjusting for gender, age and ethnicity.\n\n\nRESULTS\nOverall, 99 people with HIV, including 61 of black ethnicity, died of/with COVID-19 (107/100\xa0000) compared with 49\xa0483 people without HIV (109/100\xa0000). Compared to people without HIV, higher COVID-19\xa0mortality rates were observed in people with HIV of black (188 vs. 122/100\xa0000) and Asian (131 vs. 77.0/100\xa0000) ethnicity, and in both younger (15-59\xa0years: 58.3 vs. 10.2/100\xa0000) and older (≥\xa060\xa0years: 434 vs. 355/100\xa0000) people. After adjustment for demographic factors, people with HIV had a higher COVID-19\xa0mortality risk than those without (2.18; 95% CI: 1.76-2.70). Most people with HIV who died of/with COVID-19\xa0had suppressed HIV viraemia (91%) and at least one comorbidity reported to be associated with poor COVID-19 outcomes (87%).\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nIn the first wave of the pandemic in England, COVID-19\xa0mortality among people with HIV was low, but was higher than in those without HIV, after controlling for demographic factors. This supports the strategy of prioritizing COVID-19 vaccination for people with HIV and strongly encouraging its uptake, especially in those of black and Asian ethnicity.