Alcohol and HIV/AIDS Program| NIAAA

Extraordinary progress in HIV/AIDS research has led to the development of interventions and medications to reduce transmission and has transformed an almost inevitably fatal disease into a preventable and treatable disorder. People with HIV/AIDS can achieve their full potential and normal life expectancy if antiretroviral therapy (ART) is initiated promptly and continued for life. Nonetheless, alcohol misuse can compromise the treatment and prevention of HIV, which remains a serious public health concern worldwide.

Scientists have learned that alcohol use contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS in many ways, e.g., weakening the immune system, increasing sexual risk behaviors, and raising someone’s vulnerability to HIV infection. Furthermore, the rate of hazardous alcohol use among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHIV) is approximately twice that of the general population. 

Alcohol and tobacco use remain the primary substance use comorbidities with the greatest health impact among those living with HIV, resulting in liver and cardiac failure, cancers, and persistent organ and tissue inflammation. Comorbid hepatitis C virus (HCV) and tuberculosis (TB) further complicate treatment and increase mortality among PLWHIV who continue to drink. Research studies indicate that the HIV care continuum, including early identification through HIV testing, immediate treatment initiation, and medication adherence, are critical for health of HIV-positive people and for preventing new infections. Importantly, each of these stages may be adversely affected by alcohol misuse.   

Research Areas

Alcohol misuse facilitates HIV infection, accelerates disease progression, and hastens the deaths of those who have progressed to AIDS, but the mechanisms for these interactions are not well understood. Alcohol can exacerbate HIV-associated comorbid conditions, such as tuberculosis and hepatitis C virus, and it has been linked to the development of other diseases in HIV-infected individuals. Alcohol also contributes to age-related medical problems, including cardiovascular dysfunction, peripheral neuropathies, and neurocognitive impairments in HIV-positive individuals. In addition, little is known about how alcohol affects the effectiveness of HIV treatment and prevention medications.

The NIH Overarching HIV/AIDS Research Priorities for AIDS Funding support cross cutting basic research, health disparities, behavior and social science research, and training to:

  • Reduce the Incidence of HIV/AIDS
  • Implement Next Generation HIV Therapies
  • Research Toward a Cure
  • HIV-associated Comorbidities, Complications, and Coinfections

A full description of the NIH HIV/AIDS research priorities can be found in the Trans-NIH Plan.

Research Priorities

Find NIAAA priorities on Alcohol and HIV/AIDS in the NIAAA Strategic Plan Cross-Cutting Research Program section.

Funding

Funding opportunities

To find active funding opportunities from NIAAA, visit the NIH Grants. Search by keyword ("HIV"), grant type, release date, expiration date, contact information, and more.

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Highlighted topics

Learn about Highlighted Topics by selecting NIAAA from the drop-down menus for “Lead ICO” and “Participating ICO, and using the search term "HIV."

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Research Highlights

Consortia for HIV/AIDS and Alcohol Research Translation (CHAART)

The Consortia for HIV/AIDS and Alcohol Research Translation (CHAART) involves researchers at The Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Brown University, Boston University, the University of Alabama, the University of Washington, and several Florida-based institutions. All are studying large-scale cohorts. These consortia build on an infrastructure already in place and promote collaboration between multiple universities. The consortia members share data on critical variables and outcome information for their interventions. They also share their intervention research outcomes with a centralized operations research center located in New York City. The operations research center includes mathematical researchers who model and simulate AIDS and alcohol interactions and then validate them against real-world outcomes. They will help translate research into a database of practical models that the medical community can implement in populations living with HIV/AIDS.  

Collaborating institutions and consortia include:
 

HIV Cohort Studies Supported by NIAAA

  • The Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) network, sponsored by the NICHD, with co-funding from NIAID, NIDA, NIDCD, NIMH, NHLBI, NIDCR, NINDS, and NIAAA, is a longitudinal cohort study established to address two critical pediatric HIV research questions: the long-term safety of fetal and infant exposure to ART and the effects of perinatally acquired HIV infection in adolescents.
  • The Center for AIDS Research (CFARs) Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS), supported by NIAID and NHLBI, is the first electronic medical records-based research network poised to integrate clinical data from the large and diverse population of HIV-infected persons. CNICS provides research infrastructure to support HIV clinical outcomes and comparative effectiveness research using data collected at one of eight CFAR sites (Case Western Reserve University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of California San Francisco, the University of Washington, the University of California San Diego, Fenway Health/Harvard University, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and Johns Hopkins University).

Resources

Contact

Kendall Bryant, Ph.D.
Director, HIV/AIDS Research, NIAAA