Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS)

The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) was a prospective study originally focused on the natural and treated histories of HIV-1 infection in men who identified as homosexual or bisexual.  The study was originally funded in 1984 and by study end in 2019 had been conducted at clinical research sites located in Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA;  Pittsburgh, PA/Columbus, OH. Participants were representative of the population of men living within these geographical regions and either living with HIV or behaviorally vulnerable to HIV at the time of enrollment. Biological and behavioral data were collected every six months; limited autopsy samples may be available also. The study was merged with the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) under a unified study comprising a cohort of men and women, later known as the MACS-WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MACS-WIHS CCS).

Main Areas of Focus

  • To address the key questions facing HIV research today, including the effects of HIV, cART, and age on HIV-induced inflammation and immune dysfunction and on non-AIDS-defining outcomes including cancer, cardiovascular, liver, metabolic, neurologic, psychologic, and renal disease
  • To collect specimens for helping to understand the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection and the development of disease in HIV-infected people

Contact Information

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