Abstract
In 2019, the National Institutes of Health combined the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) and the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) into the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS). In this paper, participants who made a study visit during October 2018-September 2019 (targeted for MWCCS enrollment) are described by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serostatus and compared with people living with HIV (PLWH) in the United States. Participants include 2,115 women and 1,901 men with a median age of 56 years (interquartile range, 48-63); 62% are PLWH. Study sites encompass the South (18%), the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast (45%), the West Coast (22%), and the Midwest (15%). Participant race/ethnicity approximates that of PLWH throughout the United States. Longitudinal data and specimens collected for 35 years (men) and 25 years (women) were combined. Differences in data collection and coding were reviewed, and key risk factor and comorbidity data were harmonized. For example, recent use of alcohol (62%) and tobacco (28%) are common, as are dyslipidemia (64%), hypertension (56%), obesity (42%), mildly or severely impaired daily activities (31%), depressive symptoms (28%), and diabetes (22%). The MWCCS repository includes serum, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, cell pellets, urine, cervicovaginal lavage samples, oral samples, B-cell lines, stool, and semen specimens. Demographic differences between the MACS and WIHS can confound analyses by sex. The merged MWCCS is both an ongoing observational cohort study and a valuable resource for harmonized longitudinal data and specimens for HIV-related research.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1457-1475 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | American journal of epidemiology |
| Volume | 190 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2021 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants U01-HL146241, U01-HL146201, U01-HL146204, U01-HL146202, U01-HL146193, U01-HL146245, U01-HL146240, U01-HL146242, U01-HL146333, U01-HL146205, U01-HL146203, U01-HL146208, U01-HL146192, U01-HL146194, UL1-TR000004, P30-AI-050409, P30-AI-050410, and P30-AI-027767). The MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS) is funded primarily by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, with additional cofunding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and in coordination and alignment with the research priorities of the Office of AIDS Research, National Institutes of Health. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the study participants and the dedication of the staff at the MWCCS study sites. We acknowledge the National Program of Cancer Registries of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the funds that helped support the collection and availability of the cancer registry data. We also thank the following state cancer registries for their help: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Keywords
- HIV
- MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study
- Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study
- Women's Interagency HIV Study
- biorepositories
- cohort studies
- collaborative research
- comorbidity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine
