<p>The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) - now part of the MACS-WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS) investigates the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among men who have sex with men. Over 7,000 participants volunteered for semiannual interview, physical examination, and laboratory testing across the 325 years of the study, in four metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore/Washington (DC) and Pittsburgh.</p> <p>The study aimed to identify risk factors for occurrence and clinical expression of the HIV infection, and to establish a repository of biologic specimens for future study. Study visits included detailed questions covering HIV-related symptoms and utilization of health services, demographic and psychosocial characteristics, a quality of life survey, a physical examination, a detailed form on medications used as prophylaxis and/or treatment, a neuropsychological screening and examination, blood samples to do measure hematologic variables including enumeration of T-cell subsets and HIV viral load and evaluate genetic risk factors via genome wide association studies using data generated using the Infinium Multi-Ethnic Global BeadChip genotyping array in all participants. Men who have sex with men, with and without HIV infection were enrolled in the MACS. MACS data continues to be available through the merged MWCCS cohort.</p>

Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS)

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