SHARE

The Study to Help the AIDS Research Effort

MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS) - SHARE (Baltimore/Wash DC Center)

outline drawing of three people in red, blue, and yellow colors

SHARE, the Study to Help the AIDS Research Effort, is one of 13 clinical sites of the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS). The MWCCS is a collaborative research effort that aims to understand and reduce the impact of chronic health conditions—including heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) disorders—that affect people living with HIV. The study is designed to investigate a spectrum of questions relating to the basic science, clinical science, and epidemiology of HIV infection in the U.S., with a focus on co-morbidities among men and women living with HIV.

Major areas of investigation include:

  • Cardiovascular and pulmonary
  • Neuropsychological
  • Aging
  • Cancer
  • Psychosocial
  • Health disparities

Learn more about our study with this overview: MWCCS Dossier

MWCCS provides researchers from different disciplines with opportunities to focus on heart, lung, blood, and sleep co-morbidities as well as other conditions known to co-occur with HIV disease, including mental health and neurologic illnesses, diabetes, kidney failure, liver diseases, and certain cancers. This new research effort will build on the valuable information we have already learned from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) and Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) and their dedicated participants, including how best to manage HIV, and the link between low immune cell counts and the progression of HIV-associated co-morbidities.

For decades, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has supported the separate MACS and WIHS cohort studies. MACS was a study of gay and bisexual men, while WIHS was a study of women who had other risk factors for HIV.

The MWCCS integrates these two longstanding, longitudinal studies and will continue follow-up of the current participants enrolled at 13 MACS/WIHS clinical research sites (CRS) in addition to recruiting new participants with characteristics that reflect the U.S. population living with HIV or at risk for HIV.