The Impact of Weight Gain During HIV Treatment on Risk of Pre-diabetes, Diabetes Mellitus, Cardiovascular Disease, and Mortality

Since the introduction of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) and more effective treatments for AIDS, there has been a dramatic shift from the weight loss and wasting that characterised HIV/AIDS (and still does in countries where cART is not readily available or is initiated late) to healthy weight, or even overweight and obesity at rates mirroring those seen in the general population. These trends are attributable to several factors, including the “return to health” weight gain with reversal of the catabolic effects of HIV-infection following cART-initiation, strategies for earlier cART-initiation in the course of HIV-infection which have prevented many people living with HIV-infection from developing wasting, in addition to exposure to the modern obesogenic environment. Older cART regimens were associated with increased risk of body fat partitioning disorders (lipodystrophy) and cardiometabolic complications including atherothrombotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes mellitus. Whilst cART now avoids those medications implicated in causing lipodystrophy, long-term cardiometabolic data on more modern cART regimens are lacking. Longitudinal studies show increased rates of incident CVD and diabetes mellitus with weight gain in treated HIV-infection. Abdominal fat gain, weight gain, and rising body mass index (BMI) in the short-term during HIV treatment was found to increase incident diabetes risk. Rising BMI was associated with increased risk of incident CVD, however the relationship varied depending on pre-cART BMI category. In contrast, a protective association with mortality is evident, predominantly in the underweight and in resource-poor settings, where weight gain reflects access to cART and virological suppression. The question of how to best evaluate, manage (and perhaps constrain) weight gain during HIV treatment is of clinical relevance, especially in the current climate of increasingly widespread cART use, rising overweight, and obesity prevalence and growing metabolic and cardiovascular disease burden in people living with HIV-infection. Large prospective studies to further characterise the relationship between weight gain during HIV treatment and risk of diabetes, CVD and mortality are required

Benchmarks of Diabetes Care in Men Living With Treated HIV-Infection: A Tertiary Center Experience

Treated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with high rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), metabolic syndrome and central obesity/body fat partitioning disorders. To our knowledge, there are no available data comparing diabetes care in people with both HIV+DM vs. DM alone (DM-controls) within the same service and evaluating if benchmarked standards of care are being met in people with HIV+DM. This study evaluated the frequency that people with HIV+DM met the benchmarked American Diabetes Association (ADA) standards of care in diabetes (targets for HbA1c, blood pressure, lipid levels, complication screening, and healthy weight), compared to age- and sex- matched controls with diabetes, in an urban teaching hospital. The frequency of diabetes complications and rates of obesity and metabolic syndrome were also examined. All participants were male; individuals with HIV+DM (n = 30) were similar to DM-controls (n = 30) for age, diabetes duration and smoking status, but were more frequently non-obese compared to DM controls (92 vs. 55%, respectively, p = 0.003). Only 41% of HIV+DM met HbA1c targets, compared with 70% of DM-controls (p = 0.037). Blood pressure targets were poorly met in both HIV+DM and DM-controls: 43 vs. 23%, respectively (p = 0.12); LDL cholesterol targets were met in 65 vs. 67% (p = 1.0). Benchmarked complication screening rates were similar between HIV+DM vs. DM-controls for annual foot examination (53 vs. 67%, respectively, p = 0.29); biennial retinal examination (83 vs. 77%, respectively, p = 0.52); and annual urinary albumin measurement (77 vs. 67%, respectively, p = 0.39). The prevalence of diabetes complications was similar between HIV+DM compared to DM-controls: macrovascular complications were present in 23% in both groups (p = 1.0); the prevalence of microvascular complications was 40 vs. 30%, respectively (p = 0.51). Achieving the standard of care benchmarks for diabetes in people with both HIV-infection and diabetes is of particular importance to mitigate against the accelerated cardiometabolic outcomes observed in those with treated HIV infection. HIV+DM were less likely to achieve HbA1c targets than people with diabetes, but without HIV. People with HIV+DM may require specific strategies to ensure care benchmarks are met