The Interaction Between Sickle Cell Disease and HIV Infection: A Systematic Review

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and sickle cell disease (SCD) are regarded as endemic in overlapping geographic areas; however, for most countries only scarce data on the interaction between HIV and SCD and disease burden exist. HIV prevalence in SCD patients varies between 0% and 11.5% in published studies. SCD has been suggested to reduce disease progression of HIV into AIDS. Various interactions of antiretroviral therapy with SCD exist. Both SCD and HIV act as common risk factors for stroke, avascular necrosis, severe splenic dysfunction, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and sepsis, which may result in synergistic increase in risk of developing these diseases. No treatment guidelines regarding SCD with HIV coinfection were identified. Available evidence is mainly based on small clinical studies, thus making strong recommendations difficult. An increased effort to elucidate the precise interactions is warranted to better understand both diseases and effect more adequate treatment approaches, especially in view of their geographical coprevalence.