Frailty and sarcopenia among Turkish people aged 40 and above living with HIV

Assessment, Prevalence, and Correlates of Frailty among Moroccan People Aged 50 and above Living with HIV

BACKGROUND

Persons living with HIV experience many challenges, such as premature aging and geriatric syndromes. Frailty has become an important determinant of a series of adverse health outcomes. This research aimed to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors for frailty in this population.

METHODS

A cross-sectional outpatient investigation was conducted in an urban HIV clinic. Patients aged 50 and older living with HIV were included. Frailty phenotype was evaluated using the original Fried criteria, and we calculated the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) index, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Fracture Risk Assessment Tool scores, and Mini-mental State Exam scores.

RESULTS

One hundred and nine individuals were studied. Ninety-two (84.4%) were men, with a mean age of 57.65.2 years. Fourteen (12.8%) participants were frail. Frail participants were older (P = 0.001) and less likely to be virally suppressed (P = 0.01). Having ≥3 comorbidities, VACS index, polypharmacy, and 5-year mortality risk was significantly greater in the frail group. Frailty was significantly associated with poorer quality of life (P = 0.02). The cognitive impairment, falls, and malnutrition risk were significantly associated with a risk to manifest a frail phenotype.

CONCLUSION

Frailty is common among Moroccans with HIV, and it is associated with greater morbidity and mortality rates. Our findings should serve as a warning sign to standardize frailty and geriatric syndrome screening in this population.

The use of non-invasive imaging modalities for the assessment of skeletal muscle quantity and quality in people with HIV: A narrative review

BACKGROUND

People with HIV (PWH) are prone to mobility impairments and physical dysfunction, with the loss of skeletal muscle quantity and quality being a major contributor to the dysfunction. Assessment of skeletal muscle is an important component of care for this patient population for early intervention and treatment. The use of non-invasive imaging techniques to evaluate skeletal muscle, such as dual X-ray absorptiometry, computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, has increased in popularity in recent years.

PURPOSE

This narrative review synthesizes the use of these techniques and summarizes the associations between outcomes from these imaging modalities and physical function in PWH.

Integrase inhibitor-based regimens are related to favorable systemic inflammatory index and platecrit scores in people living with HIV (PLWH) up to 2 years

OBJECTIVES

Despite the advances in antiretroviral treatment (ART), persistent inflammation remained a challenge. We analyzed the inflammatory-score changes through 2-years in people living with HIV (PLWH) treated with different antiretroviral regimes.

METHODS

This study was conducted in Hacettepe University HIV/AIDS Treatment and Research Center. PLWH diagnosed between 2014 and 2020 were included. Inflammatory and metabolic markers (CD4/CD8 ratio, C-reactive protein (CRP), Systemic Inflammatory Index (SII), Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Mean Platelet Volume (MPV), Platecrite (PCT), and Low-Density Lipoprotein/High-Density Lipoprotein (LDL/HDL), Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) and ARTs were captured from database through 2-years from the diagnosis. The 2-year change (Δ) in markers was calculated and compared by ART type (backbone and 3rd agent). Mann-Whitney-U test and T-test were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

This study included 205 PLWH; 175 (85.4%) were male, and the mean age was 38.98 (±10.88) years. The number of PLWH with suppressed viremia (<40 HIV-RNA copies/ml) was 164 (80%) at the end of the second year. MPV increased significantly higher among PLWH receiving ABC/3TC compared to PLWH receiving TDF/FTC (p < 0.05). The CD4:CD8 ratio increased, and SII, NLR, LDL/HDL ratios decreased significantly among PLWH treated with integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTI) compared with protease inhibitors (PI) and Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs) (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Integrase inhibitor treatment is related to favorable inflammatory marker profile among PLWH in the 2-year follow-up. A favorable inflammatory profile may, in turn, contribute to the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCD) among PLWH. This study showed that simple, easy-to-calculate markers could be implemented to define ongoing inflammation among PLWH under suppressive ART.