Retinal findings in patients with COVID-19: Results from the SERPICO-19 study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated to microvascular alterations. We screened the fundus of patients with COVID-19 to detect alterations of the retina and its vasculature and to assess possible correlations with clinical parameters. METHODS: Cross-sectional study. The presence of retinal alterations in patients with COVID-19 and subjects unexposed to the virus was assessed using fundus photographs and their prevalence was compared. Mean arteries diameter (MAD) and mean veins diameter (MVD) were compared between patients and unexposed subjects with multiple linear regression including age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, smoking/alcohol consumption, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes as covariates. The influence of clinical/lab parameters on retinal findings was tested in COVID-19 patients. FINDINGS: 54 patients and 133 unexposed subjects were enrolled. Retinal findings in COVID-19 included: haemorrhages (9·25%), cotton wools spots (7·4%), dilated veins (27·7%), tortuous vessels (12·9%). Both MAD and MVD were higher in COVID-19 patients compared to unexposed subjects (98·3 ± 15·3 µm vs 91·9 ± 11·7 µm, p = 0.006 and 138·5 ± 21·5 µm vs 123·2 ± 13·0 µm, p<0.0001, respectively). In multiple regression accounting for covariates MVD was positively associated with COVID-19 both in severe (coefficient 30·3, CI95% 18·1-42·4) and non-severe (coefficient 10·3, CI95% 1·6-19·0) cases compared to unexposed subjects. In COVID-19 patients MVD was negatively correlated with the time from symptoms onset (coefficient -1·0, CI 95% -1·89 to -0·20) and positively correlated with disease severity (coefficient 22·0, CI 95% 5·2-38·9). INTERPRETATION: COVID-19 can affect the retina. Retinal veins diameter seems directly correlated with the disease severity. Its assessment could have possible applications in the management of COVID-19. FUNDING: None.

Risk factors for lipodystrophy in the CISAI cohort.

PURPOSE: This study set out to describe the frequency of lipodystrophy, and identify its risk factors, in HIV-positive patients treated with HAART containing at least one protease inhibitor (PI). We analyzed the data collected in the CISAI study. METHODS: The CISAI is a multicenter cohort study that has enrolled 1480 patients. We assessed whether patients had lipodystrophy at a medical visit, with follow-up visits by the same physician at least every 2 months, and also on the basis of patients' own reports. RESULTS: The lipodystrophy syndrome was detected in about 25% of the patients. Multivariate analysis showed the risk of lipodystrophy was correlated with female sex (RR 1.5; 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.2-2.1), with older age, with homosexuality (RR 1.5; 95% CI 1.0-2.4), with overt disease (RR 1.4; 95% CI 1.1-1.8) and with the duration of treatment before entering this study. The RR for ritonavir was higher than for the other PI (RR 1.4; 95% CI 0.9-1.9). Among patients receiving concomitant antiretroviral therapy the risk of lipodystrophy was greater with stavudine (RR 1.7; 95% CI 1.3-2.3). CONCLUSIONS: The study confirmed the high frequency of the lipodystrophy syndrome among patients treated with PI.

Simplification of protease inhibitor-containing regimens with efavirenz, nevirapine or abacavir: safety and efficacy outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the immunological and virological outcome, and the factors associated to discontinuation in patients switching to a regimen containing efavirenz (EFV), nevirapine (NVP) or abacavir (ABC) after long-term viral suppression under protease inhibitor-including HAART. DESIGN: Observational study at three outpatient clinics for HIV care in Italy. METHODS: Patients with HIV RNA <80 copies/ml and CD4 >200 cells/ml for at least 6 months on a protease inhibitor-containing treatment who switched to NVP, EFV or ABC were included in the study. End-points were immunological failure, virological failure and discontinuation due to toxicity. Survival analyses were performed to find out any independent variables predictive of reaching the end-points. RESULTS: 177 patients were enrolled; 85 started EFV, 54 NVP and 38 ABC as part of the simplification regimen. 16/159 patients experienced immunological failure: the variables associated to CD4 count decrease were HIV RNA set point value (HR 2.32 for each log10 copies more, P=0.040) and intolerance/toxicity as reason for simplification (HR 3.96, P=0.05). 13/151 subjects showed virological failure; an AIDS diagnosis (HR 6.04, P=0.021) and the use of NVP (HR 7.98, P=0.027) were associated to a worse virological outcome, while patients naive before HAART showed a lower risk of failure (HR 0.008, P=0.007). 16/177 patients discontinued simplification regimen due to toxicity; longer HAART duration before switch was associated to risk reduction (HR 0.92, P=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Simplification is safe and effective, but it should be offered to patients with shorter treatment duration, and in good clinical and immunovirological conditions.

Risk factors for indinavir-related renal colic in HIV patients: predictive value of indinavir dose/body mass index.

In a prospective study evaluating risk factors for indinavir-related renal colic in 555 HIV-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy, followed-up fir 24 months, 23.6% developed one or more renal colic episodes, and 50 patients stopped indinavir. No correlation was observed between renal colic onset and sex, age, CD4 cell count, history, and hepatitis B or C virus co-infection, but baseline anthropometric values were significantly related to the onset of renal colic.