Patterns of liver fibrosis evolution in Chinese HIV/HBV co-infected adults following 5-year antiretroviral treatment: A longitudinal study using non-invasive APRI and Fib-4 scores

The long-term effects of combined antiretroviral therapy (ART) on liver fibrosis patterns in adults living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) are not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the trajectories of liver fibrosis and identify the associations of baseline variables with different patterns of liver fibrosis evolution. A total of 333 individuals with HIV/HBV co-infection and undergoing long-term ART were enrolled in this study. Demographic, clinical, and biochemical data were collected at baseline and during annual visits. Group-based trajectory models (GBTMs) were used to detect the patterns of liver fibrosis evolution based on longitudinal data of fibrosis-4 (Fib-4) and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) scores. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify baseline predictors of liver fibrosis evolution. The median age of all participants was 33 years. Among them, 89.5% initially received TDF-containing ART. GBTMs identified two distinct patterns of liver fibrosis evolution using either APRI or Fib-4 scores. The majority of individuals (78.5% for APRI and 75.3% for Fib-4; pattern A) showed stable or low fibrosis with no progression, while the remaining participants showed regression from high fibrosis levels (21.5% for APRI and 24.7% for Fib-4; pattern B). Pattern A participants were younger and had higher CD4⁺ cell counts, higher lymphocyte cell counts, higher white blood cell counts, and lower platelet counts at baseline compared to pattern B participants. For HIV/HBV co-infected patients with varying degrees of initial liver fibrosis, long-term ART has shown distinct patterns of alleviating liver fibrosis.