Patients with HIV may face an elevated risk of developing heart failure (HF), according to new data published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
The goal of the study was to assess the relationship between HIV and HF and see how that relationship may change depending on certain patient characteristics.
“Cardiovascular disease has been an important concern for people with HIV for many, many years,” senior author Michael J. Silverberg, PhD, a research scientist and HIV epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, said in a prepared statement. “Most of the research in this area has focused on the risk of stroke and heart attacks. With this study, we now see the cardiovascular impacts for people with HIV extend to end-stage conditions such as HF.”
Silverberg et al. focused on data from Kaiser Permanente patients with HIV who were treated from January 2000 to December 2016.
Among 38,868 patients with HIV, and 386,586 without HIV, 12.3% were women, and the mean patient age was 41 years old.
During a median follow-up period of 3.8 years, the rate of incident HF was 0.23 per 100 person-years among HIV patients and 0.15 per 100 person-years among patients without HIV.
The authors also found that patients with HIV were 68% more inclined to develop HF than other patients.
In addition, patients who were 40 years of age or younger, female or of Asian or Pacific Islander descent face the highest risk of developing HF.
“In terms of young people, it’s possible that they had fewer other complicating health issues, which made HF stand out,” co-author Alan S. Go, MD, a senior research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, in the same statement. “In women, preliminary data suggest HIV may have a greater impact on their cardiac function than it does in men, due in part to hormonal regulation and enhanced myocardial fibrosis, but that needs to be investigated further. And, overall, not a lot is known about cardiac issues and HIV among Asians and Pacific Islanders.”
The analyses took into consideration whether a patient had risk factors for heart disease or was on prophylaxis medication.
“Our study showed that the higher risk wasn’t due to differences in access to care,” Go added. “They were all getting the highest-quality care.”
The researchers also said their study emphasizes why it is important for patients with HIV and their healthcare providers to always be aware of symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, leg swelling, coughing and chest pain. These can all be early predictors of HF.
The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Read the entire study here.