The case series of 34 patients with COVID-19 diagnosed with HIV infection from Central and Eastern European Countries – Euroguidelines in Central and Eastern Europe Network Group data

  1. Kerstin Kase
  2. Agata Skrzat-Klapaczyńska
  3. Anna Vassilenko
  4. Arjan Harxhi
  5. Botond Lakatos
  6. Gordana Dragović Lukić
  7. David Jilich
  8. Antonija Verhaz
  9. Nina Yancheva
  10. Florentina Dumitrescu
  11. Raimonda Matulionyte
  12. Andrzej Horban
  13. Justyna D. Kowalska

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Abstract

Background

A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was detected at the end of 2019 in China. There are many COVID-19 studies in progress however, little is known about the course of COVID-19 in people living with HIV (PLWH). The aim of our study was to describe epidemiology and clinical characteristics of PLWH diagnosed with COVID-19 reported form Central and Eastern European Countries.

Methods

On-line survey was sent to Euroguidelines in Central and Eastern Europe (ECEE) Network Group. Analysis included all confirmed COVID-19 cases between March 11 and June 26 2020 among PLWH in 12 countries: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Serbia.

Results

In total 34 cases were reported. The mean age of those patients was 42.7 years (IQR = 35.8-48.5) and most of the patients were male (70.6% vs 29.4%). The mean CD4+ T-cell count prior COVID-19 diagnosis was 558 cells/mm 3 (IQR = 312-719) and HIV RNA viral load (VL) was undetectable in 18 of 34 (53%) cases, the data about most recent HIV RNA VL was not available in three cases (8,8%). Comorbidities were observed in 19 (55.9%) patients, mostly cardiovascular disease (27,8%), and in 10 (29.4%) patients had coinfection, mostly chronic hepatitis C (87.5%). The clinical course of COVID-19 was asymptomatic in 4 (12%) cases, mild disease without hospitalization was reported in 11 (32%) cases. Stable patients with respiratory and/or systemic symptoms have been documented in 14 (41%) cases; 5 (15%) patients were clinically unstable with respiratory failure. Full recovery was reported in 31 (91%) cases, two patients died. In one case the data was not available.

Conclusion

This study from 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe region indicates no alarming signals of increased morbidity or mortality from COVID-19 among HIV-positive persons there is a need for further research.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.16.20191528: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: Ethical approvals: The study was approved by the Bioethical Committee of the Medical University of Warsaw (Nr AKBE/155/2020).
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    We must admit, that the main limitation of our study is small group of patients. In this study from 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe region we did not see any clear signals of increased morbidity or mortality caused by COVID-19 among HIV-positive persons. As the studies of SARS-CoV-2 among PLWH are performed in small study groups, there is a need for further research.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.09.16.20191528v1 on medRxiv