# Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in an Aging HIV-Infected Population: The Impact of HCV Co-Infection

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2022 · $817,262

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The proposed study will investigate how Hepatitis C virus (HCV) impacts cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk
among individuals co-infected with HIV and HCV:
Specific Aim 1. To quantify the impact of HCV co-infection on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) risk in
a cohort of HIV-infected patients followed longitudinally in a large prospective clinical care cohort
HIV infection increases CVD risk, and this risk is thought to be driven by non-traditional risk factors. Whether
patients co-infected with HCV have further increased CVD risk and whether this interaction is influenced by
age and HCV treatment status is not well understood. Importantly, CVD risk may persist even after treated
HCV, and this question has not been previously answered. It is hypothesized that the presence of two chronic
infections will increase risk beyond that of either infection alone.
Specific Aim 2. To investigate whether treating HCV, and reducing its associated chronic inflammation,
decreases risk of incident AMI
The new era of HCV care has brought extremely effective treatment for HCV, yet access remains limited and
barriers to treatment persist in co-infected patients. The extra-hepatic effects of HCV treatment – particularly
direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) – are not known. With persistent barriers to HCV treatment, knowledge of
whether HCV treatment can reduce CVD risk will have important public health implications for prioritizing
patients for curative HCV treatment.
Specific Aim 3. To assess the impact of HCV co-infection on CVD risk prediction in HIV
Whether established CVD risk prediction algorithms provide an accurate assessment of risk in HIV/HCV co-
infected patients remains unclear, particularly among co-infected patients. We propose to assess several
established algorithms in a large cohort of co-infected patients. Through innovative analyses, we will
incorporate HCV as a novel CVD risk factor into risk prediction functions to attempt to improve model
performance in HIV.
To complete the proposed aims and maximize the number of HIV/HCV co-infected individuals, we will leverage
the largest collaboration of observational HIV cohorts in North America – the North American AIDS Cohort
Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD). This is a uniquely well-suited cohort given its large
sample size, adjudicated CVD events, and rigorously maintained data. Our multidisciplinary team includes
internationally regarded epidemiology and biostatistics collaborators with expertise in methods of advanced
causal inference and in CVD risk prediction modeling. This timely and clinically relevant study will advance the
field by generating new knowledge on the impact of HCV on CVD risk and will directly impact the long-term
care of aging HIV populations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10339331
- **Project number:** 5R01AG062393-04
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Virginia Athena Triant
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $817,262
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10339331

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10339331, Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in an Aging HIV-Infected Population: The Impact of HCV Co-Infection (5R01AG062393-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10339331. Licensed CC0.

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