Racial differences in end-stage renal disease rates in HIV infection versus diabetes

Few studies have compared the incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among individuals with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and diabetes. We followed a national sample of 2,015,891 US veterans over a median peroid of 3.7 years for progression to ESRD. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of ESRD (per 1000 person-years) among HIV-infected black patients was nearly an order of magnitude higher than among HIV-positive white patients, almost twice that of diabetic whites, and similar to that among diabetic blacks. In multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis, diabetes was associated with an increased risk of ESRD among white patients, but HIV was not. Among black individuals, however, both HIV and diabetes conferred a similar increase in the risk of ESRD (4- to 5-fold increase compared to white individuals without HIV or diabetes). HIV and diabetes carry a similar risk of ESRD among black patients, highlighting the importance of developing strategies to prevent and treat renal disease among HIV-infected black individuals.