Incidence of stroke in patients with HIV infection: A population-based study in Taiwan

Hui Lin Lin, Chih Hsin Muo, Cheng Yu Lin, Hsuan Ju Chen, Pei Chun Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background Few studies have evaluated whether people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at an increased risk of stroke in an Asian population. We investigated the association between HIV infection and the risk of developing stroke by age, calendar year of HIV diagnosis, and follow-up duration in Taiwan. Methods Using the claims data of a universal health insurance program, we identified 5,961 patients with HIV and 23,844 matched non-HIV subjects without previous stroke from 1998 to 2005 and followed them up until the end of 2011 to measure the incidence of stroke. Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for potential confounders were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), with the non-HIV group as reference. Results During a median follow-up of 8 years, the incidence rates for total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke per 1000 person-years were 2.12, 1.22, and 0.60, respectively, in patients with HIV infection, and 1.98, 1.14, and 0.54, respectively, in the comparison group. HIV infection was associated with an elevated risk of developing total stroke (adjusted HR [95% CI], 1.57 [1.15–2.14]) and ischemic stroke (1.91 [1.25–2.91]) in patients aged less than 45 years, but no association was observed in other age groups (P for interaction with age, p = 0.048 and 0.024, respectively). Patients diagnosed with HIV infection in 1998–1999 had a greater HR for total stroke and ischemic stroke than those diagnosed in 2000–2002 and 2003–2005 (P for interaction, for total stroke p = 0.034, for ischemic stroke p = 0.056). The HRs did not differ by follow-up duration. Conclusions HIV infection among a young age group is associated with increased risk of developing overall and ischemic stroke. The findings highlight the importance of screening and correcting risk factors for young stroke prevention immediately and aggressively.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0217147
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume14
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 05 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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