{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T01:55:49Z","timestamp":1760234149022,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,21]],"date-time":"2021-04-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1618963200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000027","name":"National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01-AA13216","K24-AA015674, U24AA020778 and U24AA020779"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01-AA13216","K24-AA015674, U24AA020778 and U24AA020779"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000027","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000026","name":"National Institute on Drug Abuse","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R25-DA13582"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R25-DA13582"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000026","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: The impact of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA levels on the evolution of chronic HCV infection-related liver damage is controversial. Heavy alcohol use is believed to have a deleterious impact on the course of HCV disease, but current knowledge about the possible effect of alcohol use on HCV RNA levels in HIV\/HCV coinfected patients is limited. Methods: We examined 107 HIV\/HCV-infected individuals with current or past unhealthy alcohol use to assess the association between alcohol consumption (any drinking vs. abstinent) and HCV RNA levels. Results: Participants were 75% male, with a mean age of 43 years, and 63% were on antiretroviral therapy. Mean (SD) log HIV RNA was 3.1 (1.4) and mean (SD) log HCV RNA was 6.1 (0.8). Past-month alcohol use was present in 38% of participants. In a multivariable linear regression analysis we found no significant differences in mean log HCV RNA levels between those reporting alcohol use and those who were abstinent [\u03b2 (95%CI): \u22120.04 (\u22120.34, 0.26), p = 0.79)]. There was no significant association between any heavy drinking day and HCV RNA level (0.07, 95% CI: (\u22120.24, 0.38), p = 0.66). Conclusions: We did not detect significant associations between alcohol use and HCV RNA levels among HIV\/HCV coinfected patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v13050716","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,21]],"date-time":"2021-04-21T21:25:10Z","timestamp":1619040310000},"page":"716","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Alcohol Consumption and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA Levels in HIV\/HCV Coinfected Patients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1262-5860","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"Fuster","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Addiction Unit Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Department of Medicine, Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona, 08916 Badalona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Nunes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Debbie M.","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit, Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA"},{"name":"Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Richard","family":"Saitz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit, Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA"},{"name":"Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA"},{"name":"Grayken Center on Addiction, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA 02118, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeffrey H.","family":"Samet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit, Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA"},{"name":"Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA"},{"name":"Grayken Center on Addiction, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA 02118, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1198","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(10)62001-6","article-title":"Increasing burden of liver disease in patients with HIV infection","volume":"377","author":"Joshi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2436","DOI":"10.3748\/wjg.v13.i17.2436","article-title":"Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection","volume":"13","author":"Alter","year":"2007","journal-title":"World J. 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