Alcohol Consumption, Progression of Disease and Other Comorbidities, and Responses to Antiretroviral Medication in People Living with HIV

Table 2

The Role of Alcohol on the Immune System and the HIV Viral Load.

Ref.	Study settings	Population characteristics	Alcohol use patterns	Main findings
[33]	USA	220 HIV-1-infected IDUs receiving HAART	Heavy alcohol consumption (daily or 3-4 times per/week) reported in 139 (63.2%) patients.; Men (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.13–5.99, 𝑃=0.013) and participants between 35 and 45 years of age more likely to be heavy alcohol users (𝑃=0.006)	Heavy alcohol consumption associated with 4 times lower chance of achieving undetectable viral load and 2 times higher chance of having a CD4^+ cell count of <500 cells/μL, compared to moderate alcohol consumption or abstinence
[34]	USA	595 HIV positive patients	245 (41.2%) subjects consumed alcohol	Heavy alcohol consumption associated with lower CD4^+ cell counts only among subjects not on ART (𝑃=0.03)
[35]	USA	231 HIV positive drug users	126 (54.5%) participants consumed alcohol There were 53 (22.9%) frequent alcohol users (≥2 alcoholic drinks daily).; No differences in alcohol consumption between patients on ART and patients not on ART	Frequent alcohol use (≥2 drinks/day) associated with CD4^+ cell counts ≤200 cells/μL (OR 2.907, 95% CI 1.233–6.855, 𝑃=0.015).; Frequent alcohol intake associated with higher viral load over time (𝑃=0.038)
[36]	USA	391 HIV positive patients	154 (39.4%) report past week alcohol consumption with mean number of 4 drinks; 62 (15.8%) consumed >5 drinks/week	Consuming >5 drinks/week predictor for unsuppressed viral load (≥400 copies/mL) (OR 4.2, 95% CI 1.1–18.5, 𝑃=0.046)
[38]	USA	2056 HIV-infected women and 569 HIV-uninfected women	33.6% of HIV positive women consumed ≥8 drinks/week 51.8% of HIV positive women consumed 1–7 drinks/week	Consuming ≥8 drinks/week related to higher risk of death (OR 3.39, 95% CI 1.54–7.44, 𝑃<0.002)
[39]	USA	2702 HIV positive patients	Individuals were categorized as nondrinkers (no alcohol consumption), hazardous drinkers (consume ≥5 standard drinks on drinking days), and nonhazardous drinkers (consume <5 standard drinks on drinking days)	Nonhazardous alcohol consumption decreased survival by >1 year if frequency of consumption was ≥1/week, and by 3.3 years with daily consumption (from 21.7 years to 18.4 years).; Hazardous alcohol consumption decreased overall survival by >3 years if frequency of consumption was ≥1/week, and by 6.4 years with daily consumption (from 16.1 years to 9.7 years)