Background: Women are usually under-represented in HIV studies, representing only 20% of the individuals enrolled in clinical trials. Even if most studies have found no gender-related differences in clinical outcomes, evidence is limited by the heterogeneity of studied cohorts and by the low number of reports specifically addressing this issue.

Patients and Methods: In this short report, we focus on the characteristics of the female cohort attending the Outpatient HIV Clinic of the Garibaldi Nesima Hospital of Catania, with a particular emphasis on the prevalence of comorbidities in this population. 89 women were included in our analysis, median age was 47 (43-52) years. Median time since HIV diagnosis was 180 (101-242) months.

Results: 89.9% were on cART, median CD4+ T-cell count was 544 (385-729) cells/µl. 17.9% of women were coinfected with hepatitis C. The prevalence of diabetes was 4.5%. 15.7% of women had hypertension, 24.7% hypercholesterolemia. Hypovitaminosis D was highly prevalent, with 40.9% of patients having vitamin D levels <20 ng/ml. Median Frax^® score was 4.3 (3-6.5)%.

Conclusions: The aging of the HIV population implies the need to address the increased prevalence of multiple comorbidities. Women, especially older ones, have been poorly represented in clinical studies. Considering that gender differences may have a significant impact on several clinical outcomes, more research should specifically focus on this population.