BackgroundIncreased antiretroviral therapy uptake in sub-Saharan Africa has resulted in improved survival of the infected. Opportunistic infections are declining as leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Though comprehensive data are lacking, concern has been raised about the rapid emergence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the African HIV care setting. We therefore set out to characterise the NCD/HIV burden among adults living and ageing with HIV infection in Zimbabwe.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among patients receiving care in a public sector facility. We reviewed patient records and determined the prevalence of comorbid and multi-morbid NCDs. Associations with patient characteristics were evaluated using univariate and multi-variate logistic regression modelling. Significance testing was done using 2-sided p values and 95 % confidence intervals calculated.ResultsWe recruited 1033 participants. 31 % were men. Significant gender differences included: older median age, more advanced disease at baseline, and greater use of stavudine and protease inhibitor containing regimens in men compared to women. The prevalence of comorbidity and multi-morbidity were, respectively, 15.3 % (95 % CI 13.3–17.7 %) and 4.5 % (95 % CI 3.4–6.0 %). Women had higher rates than men of both co-morbidity and multi-morbidity: 21.8 vs. 14.9 %; p = 0.010 and 5.3 vs. 2.9 %; p = 0.025 respectively. The commonly observed individual NCDs were hypertension [10.2 %; (95 % CI 8.4–12.2 %)], asthma [4.3 % (95 % CI 3.1–5.8 %)], type 2 diabetes mellitus [2.1 % (95 % CI 1.3–3.2 %)], cancer [1.8 % (95 % CI 1.1–2.8 %)], and congestive cardiac failure [1.5 % (95 % CI 0.9–2.5 %)]. After adjusting for confounding, only age categories 45–≤55 years (AOR 2.25; 95 % CI 1.37–3.69) and >55 years (AOR 5.42; 95 % CI 3.17–9.26), and female gender (AOR 2.12; 95 % CI 1.45–3.11) remained significantly and strongly associated with comorbidity risk.ConclusionsWe found a substantial burden of comorbid non-communicable diseases among HIV infected patients in a high HIV and low-income setting. Integrating non-communicable diseases care, including active screening, with HIV care is recommended.

Background Sex-based differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden are widely acknowledged, with male sex considered a risk factor in high-income settings. However, these relationships have not been examined in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We aimed to apply the American Heart Association (AHA) ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) tool modified by the addition of C-reactive protein (CRP) to examine potential sex-based differences in the prevalence of CVD risk in rural Uganda. Methods In a cross-sectional study nested within a population-wide census, 857 community-living adults completed physical and laboratory-based assessments to calculate individual ideal CVH metrics including an eight category for CRP levels. We summarized sex-specific ideal CVH indices, fitting ordinal logistic regression models to identify correlates of improving CVH. As secondary outcomes, we assessed subscales of ideal CVH behaviours and factors . Models included inverse probability of sampling weights to determine population-level estimates. Results The weighted-population mean age was 39.2 (1.2) years with 52.0 (3.7) % females. Women had ideal scores in smoking (80.4% vs. 68.0%; p < 0.001) and dietary intake (26.7% vs. 16.8%; p = 0.037) versus men, but the opposite in body mass index (47.3% vs. 84.4%; p < 0.001), glycated hemoglobin (87.4% vs. 95.2%; p = 0.001), total cholesterol (80.2% vs. 85.0%; p = 0.039) and CRP (30.8% vs. 49.7%; p = 0.009). Overall, significantly more men than women were classified as having optimal cardiovascular health (6–8 metrics attaining ideal level) (39.7% vs. 29.0%; p = 0.025). In adjusted models, female sex was correlated with lower CVH health factors sub-scales but higher ideal CVH behaviors. Conclusions Contrary to findings in much of the world, female sex in rural SSA is associated with worse ideal CVH profiles, despite women having better indices for ideal CVH behaviors. Future work should assess the potential role of socio-behavioural sex-specific risk factors for ideal CVH in SSA, and better define the downstream consequences of these differences. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12872-019-1072-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.