Clonal Hematopoiesis Is More Common in People Living with HIV and May be Associated with Increased Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is more common in people living with HIV (PLWH) and may be related to abnormal immune activation. With aging, the expansion of mutated hematopoietic clones or clonal hematopoiesis (CH) has been associated with CVD events in the general population and is hypothesized to be driven by systemic inflammation. We investigated whether CH was more common in PLWH compared to those without HIV, whether the distribution of CH mutations differed by HIV status, and whether CH was associated with subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in PLWH.