Résumé
Background
HIV infection increases cardiovascular risk and highly active antiretroviral therapy may further augment it. We hypothesized that an increase in large artery stiffness may be a mechanism of enhanced cardiovascular risk in treated HIV-infected (HIV-T) patients.
Materials and methods
Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AI) were measured in 108 Cameroonian untreated HIV-infected (HIV-UT) patients and in 130 HIV-T patients.
Results
Brachial and aortic systolic blood pressure (BP), diastolic BP, and pulse pressure were higher in HIV-T patients than in HIV-UT patients (all, P < 0.01). PWV was comparable in HIV-T and HIV-UT patients (7.2 +/- 1.5 vs. 7.46 +/- 2.2 m/s, respectively, P=0.3), whereas AI was higher in HIV-T patients than in HIV-UT patients (7.9 +/- 5 vs. 5.76 +/- 4%, respectively, P=0.003). AI was associated independently with age, brachial systolic BP, brachial diastolic BP, and height in HIV patients (R-2=0.75, P < 0.01).
Conclusion
This study shows that pulse pressure and AI were increased in HIV-T patients, compared with matched HIV-UT patients, suggesting that highly active antiretroviral therapy could increase cardiovascular risk. However, PWV was not accelerated in HIV-T patients.