Chronic kidney disease in the global adult HIV-infected population: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The widespread use of antiretroviral therapies (ART) has increased life expectancy in HIV patients, predisposing them to chronic non-communicable diseases including Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration number CRD42016036246) to determine the global and regional prevalence of CKD in HIV patients.

METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO and AJOL for articles published between January 1982 and May 2016. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60ml/min using the MDRD, Cockcroft-Gault or CKD-EPI equations. Random effects model was used to combine prevalence estimates from across studies after variance stabilization via Freeman-Tukey transformation.

RESULT: Sixty-one eligible articles (n = 209,078 HIV patients) in 60 countries were selected. The overall CKD prevalence was 6.4% (95%CI 5.2-7.7%) with MDRD, 4.8% (95%CI 2.9-7.1%) with CKD-EPI and 12.3% (95%CI 8.4-16.7%) with Cockcroft-Gault; p = 0.003 for difference across estimators. Sub-group analysis identified differences in prevalence by WHO region with Africa having the highest MDRD-based prevalence at 7.9% (95%CI 5.2-11.1%). Within Africa, the pooled MDRD-based prevalence was highest in West Africa [14.6% (95%CI 9.9-20.0%)] and lowest in Southern Africa (3.2%, 95%CI 3.0-3.4%). The heterogeneity observed could be explained by WHO region, comorbid hypertension and diabetes mellitus, but not by gender, hepatitis B or C coinfection, CD4 count or antiretroviral status.

CONCLUSION: CKD is common in HIV-infected people, particularly in Africa. HIV treatment programs need to intensify screening for CKD with added need to introduce global guidelines for CKD identification and treatment in HIV positive patients.