Anthropometric Indicators Are Associated With Cardiovascular Risk Measured by Framingham Risk Score in Men Living With Hiv, but Not in Women.

Abstract

Introduction: People living with HIV (PLHIV) present metabolic and morphological changes that increase cardiovascular risk due to infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART). Early detection of cardiovascular risk using anthropometric indicators is crucial, given the low cost and feasibility of this technique. Objective: To analyze the association between anthropometric indicators and cardiovascular risk in PLHIV. Methods: Cross-sectional study with cis-gender PLHIV, ≥18 years old of both sexes. Sociodemographic, clinical, personal information and anthropometric measurements (body mass, height and neck, waist and hip circumferences) were collected and 11 anthropometric indicators were calculated. Cardiovascular risk was determined by the Framingham risk score. Multivariable regression analyses adjusted for confounding factors and stratified by sex were conducted using STATA® v. 13.0, p<0.05. Results: 354 PLHIV participated, 41.2% (n=146) female, with a mean age of 42.7 ± 13.0 years. Among the participants, 70.1% (n=248), 16.7% (n=59) and 13.3% (n=47) have low, moderate, and high cardiovascular risk, respectively. Among the indicators analyzed, conicity index (CI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body shape index (BSI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and body roundness index (BRI) present significant association with cardiovascular risk, only in men (β*=0.4985; β*=0.4861; β*=0.4645; β*=0.4320; β*=0.4204 [β*=standardized betas]), adjusted for education, level of physical activity, T-CD4+ lymphocytes, income and ART. The analyzes did not demonstrate significant associations ​​for women. Conclusion: The anthropometric indicators, notedly CI and WHR, are associated with cardiovascular risk independent of clinical factors in men living with HIV.