Abstract

Objective: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV (PWH). The coexistence of HIV and TB mutually enhances their pathogenicity and disrupts immunological functions. This study aims to analyze the biopsychosocial risk factors predicting HIV-TB co-infection in our center.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional cohort study was conducted using the records of PWH followed between 2019 and 2022 at the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Clinic of University of Health Sciences Turkey, İzmir Tepecik Education and Research Hospital. Logistic regression analysis was employed to examine factors influencing the development of TB. Results were considered statistically significant when the p-value was less than 0.05.

Results: Among the 73 individuals living with HIV in the study, 22 (30.1%) had TB co-infection, with a median age of 40 years (32-50). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified baseline BMI and the number of people living in the household as independent risk factors for TB co-infection in PWH. Each increase in baseline BMI was associated with a 0.73-times reduced risk of developing TB (0.57-0.94, p=0.016), while each additional person in the household increased the risk of TB co-infection by 1.16 times (1.00-1.35, p=0.047).

Conclusion: TB is influenced by various social factors, and this study demonstrates that PWHs with specific characteristics are at a higher risk of TB coinfection. Therefore, multicenter studies are needed to identify the risk factors predicting HIV-TB co-infection.