Introduction: Inflammation is a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in people with HIV (PWH), who face twice the risk of CVD compared to the general population. The presence of co-existing rheumatic disease (RD) may further exacerbate inflammation and increase the incidence of CVD events in this population. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using electronic health record (EHR) data from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Atlanta, covering the period from 2000 to 2019. A total of 5000 patients aged 20-87 years who were diagnosed with HIV and receiving care at the Atlanta VAMC between 2000 and 2019 were eligible for this analysis. This study included 3930 veterans with HIV and assessed the impact of rheumatic disease therapies (RDTs) on CVD outcomes. The primary outcome was the first occurrence of a CVD event. Results: Rheumatic disease was significantly associated with an increased risk of CVD events (OR = 2.67; p < 0.001). Additionally, exposure to multiple RDTs (aHR = 2.121, p = 0.047), NSAIDs (aHR = 1.694, p = 0.003), glucocorticoids (aHR = 2.332, p < 0.0001), and hypouricemic agents and colchicine (aHR = 3.445, p < 0.0001) were all significantly associated with increased CVD events. Conclusions: The co-existence of HIV infection and rheumatic disease, along with the use of RDTs, may amplify the risk of CVD events in PWH. These findings underscore the need for further investigation into the relationship between RD, RDTs, and CVD risk in larger, controlled studies, given the potential implications for treatment decisions in this patient population. A limitation of our study is that due to its retrospective design, we could not examine the impact of the sequential use of RDT groups and RD severity on CVD events.
Keywords: HIV; cardiovascular events; rheumatic disease.