HIV-infected patients on cART had similar level of arterial stiffness to the patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

Background: The cardiovascular disease has become very common among HIV-infected patients. Objective: The aim was to compare the arterial stiffness and the endothelial dysfunction in healthy HIV-infected patients to non-HIV-infected patients in week 4 after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods: The arterial stiffness was calculated by Endo-PAT 2000 (ITAMAR) and the endothelial function by Peripheral Arterial Tonometry (PAT). The correct endothelial function was defined for natural logarithm of reactive hyperaemia index (lnRHI) > 0.51. Arterial stiffness was assessed as the AI and corrected for heart rate of 75 bpm (AI@75). Results: Sixty three patients were recruited to this study, 34 subjects with HIV infection (18 on cART) and 29 HIV-negative subjects after recent STEMI. AI was significantly higher in STEMI group than in HIV group. However, after AI@75 standardisation, no statistically significant difference was found between two studied groups. HIV-positive patients on cART had equally high values of arterial stiffness as persons after STEMI. The observed lnRHI results were significantly lower in STEMI group in comparison to HIV-positive patients, and the biggest significant difference was seen between STEMI group and ARV-treated HIV-infected patients. Conclusions: ARV-treated HIV-infected patients may have similarly high values of arterial stiffness as non-HIV-infected persons in week 4 after STEMI. More larger studies are required to assess our observation concerning arterial stiffness and elevated risk of cardiovascular disease development in this group of patients, independently of age, smoking status and concomitant chronic diseases.