Prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in a multicentre cohort of people living with HIV in Spain.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most important liver comorbidities in people living with HIV (PLWH). Factors that could lead to a higher prevalence of NAFLD or ease the onset of fibrosis are unclear.Methods: Cohort study of the Spanish HIV Research Network, which comprehends 46 hospitals and more than 15,000 PLWH. Primary objectives were to assess NAFLD prevalence and liver fibrosis according to hepatic steatosis index (HSI) and NAFLD fibrosis score, respectively. Factors associated with both were analysed.Results: A total of 4798 PLWH were included of whom 1461 (30.5%) showed an HSI>36; these patients had higher risk for significant fibrosis (OR 1.91; 95%CI 1.11-3.28). Factors associated with NAFLD were body mass index (OR 2.05; 95%CI 1.94-2.16) and diabetes (OR 4.68; 95%CI 2.17-10.08), while exposure to integrase strand transfer inhibitors showed a lower risk (OR 0.78; 95%CI 0.62-0.97). In patients with HSI>36, being fe-male (OR 7.33; 95%CI 1.34-40), age (OR 1.22; 95%CI 1.11-1.34), body mass index (OR 1.35; 95%CI 1.18-1.54) and exposure to thymidine analogues (OR 75.4, 95%CI 6.9-823.5) were associated with a higher risk of sig-nificant fibrosis. However, exposure to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (OR 0.12, 95%CI 0.02-0.89) and time of exposure to protease inhibitors (OR 0.97, 95%CI 0.95-1) showed a lower risk.Conclusion: NAFLD prevalence was high in our cohort. Patients exposed to INSTI showed a lower risk of NAFLD. In patients with hepatic steatosis, exposure to thymidine analogues had 75-fold more risk of significant fibrosis while exposure to NNRTIs reduced this risk.

Automated summary

In this study, researchers found a high prevalence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in people living with HIV (PLWH). Obesity and diabetes were associated factors with NAFLD, while exposure to integrase strand transfer inhibitors reduced the risk. Moreover, among patients with hepatic steatosis, exposure to thymidine analogues increased the risk of significant fibrosis, while exposure to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors reduced this risk.