Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in hospitalizations among persons with HIV in the United States and Canada, 2005–2015

Objective: To examine recent trends and differences in all-cause and cause-specific hospitalization rates by race, ethnicity, and gender among persons with HIV (PWH) in the United States and Canada. Design: HIV clinical cohort consortium. Methods: We followed PWH at least 18 years old in care 2005–2015 in six clinical cohorts. We used modified Clinical Classifications Software to categorize hospital discharge diagnoses. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) were estimated using Poisson regression with robust variances to compare racial and ethnic groups, stratified by gender, adjusted for cohort, calendar year, injection drug use history, and annually updated age, CD4+, and HIV viral load. Results: Among 27 085 patients (122 566 person-years), 80% were cisgender men, 1% transgender, 43% White, 33% Black, 17% Hispanic of any race, and 1% Indigenous. Unadjusted all-cause hospitalization rates were higher for Black [IRR 1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32–1.61] and Indigenous (1.99, 1.44–2.74) versus White cisgender men, and for Indigenous versus White cisgender women (2.55, 1.68–3.89). Unadjusted AIDS-related hospitalization rates were also higher for Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous versus White cisgender men (all P 
Source: AIDS - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: CLINICAL SCIENCE Source Type: research