Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS)

The Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) was established in 1993 as a multi-center, prospective, observational cohort study of cisgender women living in the United States. The study was expanded in 2012 to additional locations and by study completion in 2018 had been conducted at clinical research sites in Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL/Jackson, MS; Chapel Hill, NC; Chicago, IL; Miami, FL; New York City, NY;  Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC. Participants were representative of the population of women 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 and saliva may be available also. The study was merged in 2019 with the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) under a unified study comprising a cohort of men and women, known as the MACS-WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MACS-WIHS CCS).

Main Areas of Focus

  • To understand the current epidemiology of HIV infection, disease progression, treatment use and outcomes, and related co-morbidities among HIV-positive individuals in the United States
  • To understand the differences in HIV disease and treatment outcomes between women compared to men and in different racial and ethnic groups
  • To further understanding on how to achieve optimal therapy effectiveness
  • To study the uptake of antiretroviral medications
  • To study the predictors of successful and sustained viral suppression
  • To conduct research to define the clinical outcomes for women with HIV across their full lifespan

Oversight

The WIHS Executive Committee (EC) is responsible for managing the overall scientific aims of the WIHS and is composed of the Principal Investigators (PIs) from each awardee institution, a WIHS community advisory board member selected by study subjects to represent their interests, and a Project Scientist from each current co-funding NIH Institute.

Locations

  • Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine - Bronx, NY
  • SUNY Downstate - Brooklyn, NY
  • Hektoen Research Center - Chicago, IL
  • Georgetown University - Washington, DC
  • University of California - San Francisco, CA
  • University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, NC
  • Emory University - Atlanta, GA
  • University of Miami - Miami, FL
  • University of Alabama – Birmingham, AL/University of Mississippi Medical Center - Jackson, MS
  • Since 1997 the WIHS data management and analysis center (WDMAC) has been located at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health - Baltimore, MD

Featured Research

The WIHS Dossier contains a list of ongoing and completed core aims and substudies, cohort and retention status, baseline characteristics, mortality rates, and ARV use status. The Dossier also summarizes key study characteristics and scientific contributions from WIHS publications. The Dossier is updated annually and can be found on the WIHS website. 

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