To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the association between alcohol use determined via a combined self-report/biomarker-detected measure, and risk of mortality among a cohort of HIV+ and uninfected individuals. Several important findings emerged from our study. Likely due to the difference in the encompassed time period, more individuals overall were characterized as using alcohol and having unhealthy alcohol use with AUDIT-C than with PEth. However a substantial proportion of those self-reporting abstinence in the past year had biomarker evidence of alcohol consumption in the past 3 weeks. These individuals appear to be at highest risk of mortality. Additionally, individuals infected with HCV including those co-infected with HIV were more likely to under-report exposure and may be at particularly high risk.
