Prevalence of obesity, hypertension and metabolic abnormalities in patients receiving long term cART: a case control study from South India

Background: Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has improved the quality of life and survival of HIV-infected individuals. However, the long term intake of these drugs is associated with multiple metabolic abnormalities eventually leading to increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.Methods: Forty five HIV-infected individuals who are on cART having CD4+ cell count of >200 cells/mm3 for at least 2 years were recruited as cases. Age and gender matched, otherwise healthy individuals were taken as controls. Both cases and controls were compared for the prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and lipid abnormalities.Results: We found higher prevalence of obesity (33.3% vs 26.7%), abdominal obesity (33.3% vs 17.8%), hypertension (33.3% vs 20%), impaired fasting glucose (IFG) (37.7% vs 8.9%), diabetes mellitus (26.7% vs 24.4%), high total cholesterol (33.3% vs 22.2%) and low HDL cholesterol (60% vs 46.7%) among cases compared to controls. The statistically significant difference was noted only for IFG (cases = 17, 37.7%, controls = 4, 8.9%, p value = 0.002). Low HDL cholesterol was the most common metabolic abnormality found in 27 (60%) cases and 21 (46.7%) controls.Conclusions: HIV-infected individuals receiving long term cART have higher prevalence of obesity, hypertension and dysregulations in glucose and lipid metabolism compared to general population and hence, the diagnosis and management of these abnormalities is very important to prevent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality