Evaluation of cardiovascular risk factors in people living with HIV in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: HIV infection as a chronic disease has emerged from treatment advances over the past three decades. From this perspective, the diseases associated with AIDS are not a main threat for patients who use Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). A new set of HIV associated complications have emerged resulting in comorbidities related to aging and ART exposure as cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study aimed to evaluate the cardiovascular risk factors in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Brazil.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at all Specialized Care Services for people living with HIV in the Southeast of Brazil. A sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire was used and cardiovascular risk assessed through the Framingham Score. Data analysis was performed by Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression.

Results: The majority were male, over 40 years old and they showed a mean age of 44 years. Current hypertension, diabetes, altered body mass index, presence of metabolic syndrome and altered abdominal circumference were also associated with cardiovascular risk. After regression analysis, male sex, older age, smoking, diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome were related as predictive factors for a higher cardiovascular risk.

Conclusions: The results demonstrate that combination of the prevention of modifiable risk factors with considerable changes in lifestyle are determining factors for success in the therapeutic of PLWH. High levels of motivation are essential for behavioral changes, and nurses are ideally position to provide safe care with nonpharmacological strategies for CVD risk reduction.