Are Older Adults Living with HIV More Susceptible to Omicron Infection Compared to Their HIV-Negative Peers in China: A Cross-sectional Study

Jian-Hui Yang^1*Esben Strodl²Hong Xu¹Hai-Bo Jiang¹Kun Chu¹Shi-Wen Tan¹Ze-Hao Ye¹Hong-Bo Shi¹Wei-Qing Chen^3*Feng Tong^1*

• ¹Ningbo Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo, China
• ²Queensland University of Technology School of Psychology and Counselling, Kelvin Grove, Australia
• ³Sun Yat-Sen University School of Public Health, Guangzhou, China

Background: The elderly are a population particularly susceptible to Omicron infection and long viral shedding durations. However, the associations between HIV status in older people and SARS-CoV-2 infection and viral shedding duration have not been determined. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the impact of HIV infection status on Omicron infection rates and viral shedding duration in older people. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of Chinese elderly participants (age ≥60 years) who were either people living with HIV (PLWH) or were not infected with HIV. A total of 606 participants completed the questionnaire: 226 participants were diagnosed as having HIV, and 380 participants reported to be HIV negative. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to balance the baseline parameters of the two groups and to exclude the effect of confounding variables resulting in a final sample of 198 PLWH and 198 HIV-negative participants for data analysis. Risk or protective factors for Omicron infection and long viral shedding duration, including demographics, HIV-related factors, and comorbidities, were investigated using multivariable logistic regression. Results The risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the PLWH group was lower than that in the HIV-