Disparities in multimorbidity and mortality among people living with and without HIV across British Columbia’s health regions: a population-based cohort study

Objectives Longer survival has increased the likelihood of antiretroviral-treated people living with HIV (PLWH) developing age-associated comorbidities. We compared the burden of multimorbidity and all-cause mortality across HIV status in British Columbia (BC), and assessed the longitudinal effect of multimorbidity on all-cause mortality among PLWH. Methods Antiretroviral-treated PLWH aged ≥19 years and 1:4 age-sex-matched HIV-negative individuals from a population-based cohort were followed for ≥1 year during 2001–2012. Diagnoses of seven age-associated comorbidities were identified from provincial administrative databases and grouped into 0, 1, 2, and ≥3 comorbidities. Multimorbidity prevalence and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) in both populations were stratified by BC’s health regions. Marginal structural models were used to estimate the effect of multimorbidity on mortality among PLWH, adjusted for time-varying confounders affected by prior multimorbidity. Results Among 8031 PLWH and 32,124 HIV-negative individuals, 25% versus 11% developed multimorbidity, and 23.53 deaths/1000 person-years (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 22.02–25.13) versus 3.04 (2.81–3.29) were observed, respectively. PLWH in Northern region had the highest ASMR, but those in South Vancouver Island experienced the greatest difference in mortality compared with HIV-negative individuals. Among PLWH, compared with those with zero comorbidities, adjusted hazard ratios for those with 1, 2, and ≥3 comorbidities were 3.36 (95% CI: 2.86–3.95), 6.92 (5.75–8.33), and 12.87 (10.45–15.85), respectively. Conclusion PLWH across BC’s health regions experience excess multimorbidity and associated mortality. We highlight health disparities which are key when planning the distribution of healthcare resources across BC, and provide evidence for improved HIV care models integrating prevention and management of chronic diseases.