Abstract

LOUWRENS, Anisca; FOURIE, Carla M.T.; BOTHA-LE ROUX, Shani  and  BREET, Yolandi. Age-related differences in the vascular function and structure of South Africans living with HIV. South. Afr. j. HIV med. (Online) [online]. 2022, vol.23, n.1, pp.1-12. ISSN 2078-6751.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajhivmed.23i1.1335.

BACKGROUND: As the life expectancy of people living with the HIV increases because of antiretroviral treatment (ART), their risk for vascular co-morbidities and early vascular ageing (EVA) also increases.OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate whether HIV infection relates to vascular structure and function in black South African adults and whether this relationship is age dependent.METHOD: This cross-sectional study carried out in urban and rural areas of North West province, South Africa, included 572 age- and sex-matched people living with HIV (PLWH) and without HIV. Participants from the EndoAfrica study and PURE study were stratified according to tertiles of age. Measures of vascular structure (carotid intima-media thickness) and function (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, central systolic blood pressure, central pulse pressure and pulse pressure amplification) were determined.RESULTS: Blood pressure measures were lower in PLWH compared with their controls (all P ≤ 0.001), especially in the younger and middle-aged groups (all P ≤ 0.031), whilst vascular measures did not differ (all P ≥ 0.611). In multivariate linear regression analyses, vascular measures were not associated with a HIV- positive status in either the total or any of the age groups.CONCLUSION: Black South Africans living with HIV have a less adverse blood pressure profile than their counterparts without HIV. The HIV-positive status was not associated with measures of vascular structure or function in any age group. The results suggest that HIV does not contribute to EVA in this population; however, further longitudinal investigation is warranted.

Keywords : arterial stiffness; carotid intima-media thickness; antiretroviral treatment; early vascular ageing; multi-morbidity.

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