Prevalence of cryoglobulinemia in hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive patients with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection

Background: Coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been shown to influence the natural history of hepatitis C infection. Objective: Our interest was to determine if HIV coinfection influences the prevalence of cryoglobulinemia in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected persons. Study design: A total of 384 HCV RNA positive (234 HIV-infected and 150 HIV-uninfected) participants were tested at two visits, 18 months apart, for HCV and HIV RNA, CD4, and liver enzyme levels. Serum cryoglobulin levels were measured at a subsequent visit for a subset of the sample. Results: HIV-infected participants had significantly higher HCV RNA levels (P < 0.0001) and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels (P < 0.0001), but not alanine transaminase (ALT) levels (P > 0.05) as compared with HIV-uninfected participants. These findings were consistent at both visits and no significant changes were observed between visits. Fifty (19%) of the 264 participants tested had detectable cryoglobulins. No difference was observed in HIV seropositivity among participants with or without cryoglobulinemia (68% versus 61%; odds ratio = 1.34, P = 0.37). However, among HIV coinfected participants, elevated AST levels (P = 0.04) and lower CD4 levels (P = 0.02) were associated with cryoglobulinemia. Conclusions: While previously reported associations were found between HIV and coinfection with HCV in this study, we did not find an association between HIV infection and cryoglobulinemia.