The Canadian Co-infection Cohort study follows a group of HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) co-infected patients from 17 centres across Canada.
The Cohort was established in 2002 at three University centres in Quebec with infrastructure funding from the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ). In 2005 we received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to expand to an additional 14 sites across Canada and in 2009 funding was renewed by the CIHR to continue this research.
Participants are not required to take any special medications or change any of their behaviours, but are asked to complete a questionnaire every six months. The questionnaires collect detailed information on demographics, drug and alcohol use, risk behaviours, smoking habits, quality of life measures as well as HIV and HCV treatment information. Blood samples are also collected and stored to perform viral, pathogenic and immunologic studies.
The primary objective of this study is to determine the effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on liver disease progression in HIV-HCV Co-infection. We have now enrolled 1050 participants across Canada.