People living with HIV (PLWH) have an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease, owing to a higher prevalence of CV risk factors. A study compared the age-standardized prevalence and management of CV risk factors in PLWH to that of the general population in Spain. The results were published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine.

To conduct this cross-sectional study, researchers compared blood pressure, lipid, glucose, and anthropometric profiles along with treatments of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes in a general population cohort and a PLWH cohort. The study was comprised 47,593 individuals aged 35 to 74 years—28,360 from the general population cohort and 19,233 from the PLWH cohort.

Following analysis, the results showed that compared to the general population, PLWH had a higher concentration of triglycerides (>35 mg/dL in women and >26 mg/dL in men), as well as a higher prevalence of smoking (>23% and >17%, respectively) and diabetes (>9.9% and >8.5%) relative to the general population. The investigators noted that the prevalence of treated diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were up to three-fold lower in both women and men living with HIV.

“There was a significant difference in PLWH compared to the general population in the lipid, glucose, and anthropometric profile. In addition, PLWH were less often treated for diagnosed diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia,” the researchers concluded.


Keywords: HIV, cardiovascular risk factor, general population, people living with HIV, prevalence