Incidence of Statin Initiation Among People With and Without HIV in the United States: A Prospective Observational...

To reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) among US people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, PWH), it is critical to assess shortfalls in statin initiation. We aimed to describe patterns in clinically indicated statin initiation among demographically similar people with or at increased vulnerability to HIV.

Using data from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and Women's Interagency HIV Study, we followed 842 men and 852 women with an indication for statin use based on 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for statin initiation between January 2014 and March 2020. We estimated 2-year incidence of statin initiation stratified by demographic, clinical, and behavioral characteristics and compared estimates using incidence differences.

Within 2 years of statin indication, 20% of participants reported statin use. Initiation of statin therapy did not differ significantly by HIV status. However, initiation was lower among Black versus non-Black persons, especially among men (14.0% versus 22.3%; difference, -8.3%; 95% confidence interval, -13.8% to -2.8%). Compared with initiation among persons indicated based only on ≥7.5% 10-year predicted ASCVD risk (incidence: men, 14.2%; women, 15.2%), initiation was higher among those with existing ASCVD (incidence: men, 32.9%; women, 22.0%) or diabetes (incidence: men, 26.4%; women, 24.5%). Initiation was lower among current versus noncurrent smokers and higher among those with comorbidities.

Guideline-driven statin initiation was low, with large inequities by race. With indications for statin use expanding for PWH, redressing barriers to guideline implementation will be crucial to achieving improved outcomes through uptake of these evidence-based therapies.