Introduction:
People living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) are at high cardiovascular risk (CVR) due to chronic immune activation by the virus, generating a persistent inflammatory state, and the use of antiretrovirals (ARVs).
Hypothesis:
Factors specific to PLHIV, such as viral load (CV), TCD4 (CD4) cell count, ARV class and duration of use, are related to higher CVR in this population.
Methods:
This is a quantitative cross-sectional observational study, composed of 276 PLHIV on ARV therapy, treated at the Center for Attention to Sexually Transmitted Infections/AIDS, from July to October 2018, in a municipality in the interior of the state of Maranhão - Brazil. The variables analyzed were: sex, VC, CD4, ARV classes and duration of use and Framingham risk score (FRS). The ERF was used to stratify the CVR and the data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, version 19.0. Results were considered significant if p<0.05. This study was approved by the ethics and research committee of the Federal University of Maranhão, according to number. 2.781.461/2018.
Results:
Among the study participants, 44.4% (N=122) were women and 55.6% (N=153) were men. Regarding the classes of ARV in use, 47.6% (N=131) used NRTI/tNRTI, 26.2% (N=72) NNRTI, 2.5% (N=7) IP and 23.6% ( 65) other classes. Of the sample, 93.82% (N=258) had low CVR, according to the ERF, and 6.18% (N=17) had moderate and high CVR. Male sex (94.1%, N=16, p=0.001), duration of ARV use less than 5 years (33.3%, N=6), between 5 and 10 years were associated with moderate and high CVR. (17.6%, N=3) and over 10 years (47.1%, N=8), with p=0.025.
Conclusions:
In the sample of this study, there was a significant association between moderate and high CVR with male gender and ARV use for less than 5 years.