Incidence and Risk Factors for Renal Disease in an Outpatient Cohort of HIV-Infected Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy

Introduction Prior studies found renal disease was common among HIV-infected outpatients. We updated incident renal disease estimates in this population, comparing those with and without tenofovir exposure. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of the DC Cohort, a longitudinal study of HIV patients in Washington, DC, from 2011 to 2015. We included adults prescribed antiretroviral therapy (ART) with baseline glomerular filtration rate (GFR) ≥15 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 . We defined renal disease as 50% decrease in GFR or doubled serum creatinine (Cr) within 3 months. We defined cumulative viral load as area under the curve (AUC) of log 10 transformed longitudinal HIV RNA viral load (VL). Correlates of time to incident renal disease were identified using Cox proportional hazard regression models, adjusted for demographics and known risk factors for kidney disease. Results Among 6068 adults, 77% were Black and median age was 48 years. Incident renal disease rate was 0.77 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.65–0.9). Factors associated with renal disease were age (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.4; CI 1.1–1.7 per 10 years), public non-Medicaid, non-Medicare insurance (aHR: 3.4; CI: 1.9–6.4), AUC VL (aHR: 1.1; CI: 1.1–1.2), diabetes (aHR: 1.6; CI: 1.0–2.4), and mildly reduced GFR (60–89 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 ) (aHR: 1.5; CI: 1.0–2.3); recent tenofovir exposure was not associated with renal disease (aHR: 0.7; CI: 0.5–1.1). Conclusion Our study reveals a substantial burden of renal disease. Cumulative VL was associated with renal disease, suggesting that early VL suppression may decrease its incidence.