Pattern of arterial inflammation and inflammatory markers in people living with HIV compared with uninfected people.

Study design: To compare arterial inflammation(AI) between people living with HIV(PLWH) and uninfected people as assessed by 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose(18F-FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET). Methods: We prospectively enrolled 20 PLWH and 20 uninfected people with no known cardiovascular disease and at least 3 traditional cardiovascular risk factors. All patients underwent 18F-FDG-PET/computed tomography(CT) of the thorax and neck. Biomarkers linked to inflammation and atherosclerosis were also determined. The primary outcome was AI in ascending aorta(AA) measured as mean maximum target-to-background ratio(TBRmax). The independent relationships between HIV status and both TBRmax and biomarkers were evaluated by multivariable linear regression adjusted for body mass index, creatinine, statin therapy and atherosclerotic-cardiovascular 10-year estimated-risk(ASCVD). Results: Unadjusted mean TBRmax in AA was slightly higher but not statistically different (p=0.18) in PLWH (2.07;IQR:1.97,2.32]) than uninfected people(2.01;IQR:1.85,2.16]). On multivariable analysis PLWH had an independent risk of increased mean log-TBRmax in AA (coef=0.12; 95%CI: 0.01,0.22; p =0.032). HIV infection was independently associated with higher values of Interleukin-10 (coef=0.83;95%CI: 0.34,1.32; p=0.001), Interferon-γ (coef.=0.90;95%CI 0.32,1.47; p=0.003), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1) (coef.=0.75;95%CI: 0.42,1.08,p