# Alcohol Research Consortium in HIV: Epidemiology Research Arm

> **NIH NIH P01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $185,680

## Abstract

Unhealthy alcohol use is prevalent among people with HIV (PWH) and associated with poor outcomes
including less engagement in the HIV Care Continuum (HIV-CC) and increased age-related comorbidities.
Alcohol Research Consortium in HIV–Epidemiology Research Arm (ARCH-ERA) was formed to investigate
short and long-term effects of alcohol on outcomes among PWH in the CFAR Network of Integrated Clinical
Systems (CNICS). CNICS is an 8-site network that is a large, geographically and racially diverse, gender
representative cohort of >37,000 PWH in care. Careful outcomes adjudication, a large diverse population, and
systematic longitudinal assessments of patient reported alcohol use, drug use, mental health symptoms,
adherence, and context-based factors such as housing status, stigma, and social support enables a rigorous
approach to key questions on HIV and alcohol that are highly responsive to NIH HIV priorities and RFA-AA-20-
009. Our rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the remarkable agility of CNICS to adapt to
changes in health care and research priorities as they emerge. We have previously described the high
prevalence of unhealthy alcohol use among PWH, and its detrimental effects on outcomes including HIV-CC
steps. We build on that work focusing on the HIV-CC in the current era of a pandemic and expanding
telehealth; expanding focus to including the Alcohol Care Continuum (Alc-CC) as well as additional patterns of
alcohol use; adding age-related outcomes such as heart failure that are becoming increasingly important in the
aging population of PWH; and incorporating emerging outcomes such as due to COVID-19-related illness.
 Capitalizing on the resources and infrastructure of CNICS, we propose the following aims: 1. Obtain, expand,
improve, and validate high quality alcohol and social determinants of health data including expanding CNICS
PROs to better capture alcohol use patterns and adding U.S. Census data to better capture socioeconomic
context; 2. Examine longitudinal relationships of alcohol use, drug use, and mental health disorders on the
HIV-CC and Alc-CC including impacts of the pandemic and key social determinants of health such as among
sometimes hidden or marginalized groups of PWH. 3. Determine clinical outcomes among PWH with unhealthy
alcohol use including age-related comorbidities and COVID-19 related illness, and the role of alcohol use
patterns and social determinants of health on these and other long-term outcomes.
 ARCH-ERA will capitalize on and expand CNICS’s comprehensive clinical data to address novel research
questions on the impact of alcohol use among PWH including generating new knowledge on the intersection of
HIV and alcohol to inform future research and clinical care. ARCH-ERA will enhance the overall ARCH
consortium by providing new and expanded data types, informing alcohol interventions, and leveraging results
from this rich cohort to provide data and address important questions focusing on the im...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10304374
- **Project number:** 1P01AA029544-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Heidi M. Crane
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $185,680
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-10 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10304374

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10304374, Alcohol Research Consortium in HIV: Epidemiology Research Arm (1P01AA029544-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10304374. Licensed CC0.

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