Short-term weight gain after antiretroviral therapy initiation and subsequent risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes: the D:A:D study. HIV Medicine
Achhra et al. analyzed the data from the D:A:D Study to assess the relationship between short-term body mass index (BMI) gain after antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and the subsequent risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes mellitus (DM). Those with pre-ART BMI in the normal or middle two quartile categories experienced an increase of 20% in the risk of CVD per unit gain in BMI. Weight gain in underweight individuals had a minimal association with CVD. Unexpectedly, overweight patients did not experience any appreciable change in their already higher risk. For DM each unit gain in BMI was associated with a 12% increase in risk regardless of pre-ART BMI.
In conclusion, clinicians need to be aware that excess weight gain post ART initiation could be detrimental to future cardiometabolic health.