www.catie.caA prospective clinical cohort of HIV and Hepatitis C virus co-infected patients
About the study
With $1,924,155 of renewal funding from CIHR, CTN 222 continues its research into additional aspects of co-infection. To answer their primary research question regarding the effects of HAART on liver disease progression, researchers recalculated their sample size of 950 participants and determined that an additional 100 participants are required.
In 2007 Dr. Klein established CTN 222 to examine why liver disease progresses more rapidly in people co- infected with HIV and hepatitis C despite the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
Study Approach
Since the advent of HAART, there have been dramatic reductions of disease progression and death from virtually all causes of illness among HIV-infected people. However, one of the exceptions to this trend is death from end stage liver disease. In many settings, liver disease now represents the leading cause of death among HIV-infected people. Because HCV is an opportunistic infection associated with HIV, it would be expected that HCV-related disease should improve with the initiation of HAART, but that has not been clearly demonstrated. By collecting data from co-infected participants from a diverse population in this study, it is hoped that researchers will be able to make better recommendations on issues of prevention, diagnoses and treatment for co-infected people, and help contribute to the development of services that meet their particular health needs.