Echocardiographic study of left ventricular function in HIV-infected Nigerians

Context: Left ventricular function in HIV/AIDS patients from South-East Nigeria has not been reported. Aims: We sought to determine the prevalence and spectrum of left ventricular function abnormalities in patients with HIV infection in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, South-East Nigeria. Settings and Design: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study of patients with HIV/AIDS at UNTH, Enugu from September 2006 to July 2007. Methods and Material: Sixty-six HIV-infected patients being managed at the antiretroviral therapy clinic and who had no other cardiovascular risk factor other than HIV infection were consecutively recruited. They were matched for sex, and age with seronegative healthy controls. Clinical and echocardiographic evaluation was carried out to assess the left ventricular function. Statistical Analysis Used: The findings were analyzed with statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 10.0. Results: The patients consisted of 29 males and 37 females aged between 23 and 62 years. Left ventricular systolic dysfunction was identified in 9 (13.6%) of 66 HIV-infected patients and 1 (4.3%) of 23 controls ( P = 0.201) while left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (reversed fi lling pattern) was identifi ed in 19 (28.8%) and 3 (13.0%) of the HIV-infected patients and controls, respectively (0.021). Left ventricular hypertrophy was seen in 2 (3.0%) patients but in only 1 (4.3%) control ( P = 0.647), while left ventricular dilatation was absent in all the patients and controls. Conclusions: Systolic function does not vary significantly between our patients with HIV/AIDS and sero-negative controls. This calls for further investigation of cardiac function in Nigerian HIV/AIDS patients.