¹Department of Medicine, Hospital del Mar. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Correspondence: Prof. J. Pedro-Botet, Department of Medicine, Passeig Marítim, 25-29, 08003 Barcelona. Spain E-mail: 86620@imas.imim.es

¹Dr. C. Jericó is the recipient of a grant from the Fundación IMIM (Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica).

Received 28 January 2005; Revised 10 May 2005; Accepted 10 May 2005.

Abstract

Background: Little is known about hypertension in the HIV-infected population. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of hypertension and related factors in HIV-infected patients.

Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, 710 HIV-infected patients (626 on combination antiretroviral therapy and 84 naive) managed at the outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital during 2003 and 802 controls completed the study protocol consisting of medical examination and a 6-month follow-up period including three control visits.

Results: Hypertension prevalence was 13.1% in HIV-infected patients and 13.5% in the control group. Age (per 10-year increment) (odds ratio [OR]: 1.92; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.48–2.48), body mass index (OR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.10–1.27), and lipoaccumulation pattern of fat redistribution (OR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.20–4.24) were independently and significantly associated with the presence of hypertension in HIV-infected patients at logistic regression analysis.

Conclusions: The present results suggest no meaningful difference in prevalence of hypertension between subjects with and without HIV infection. Thus, the influence of combination antiretroviral therapy appears to have little impact on the prevalence of hypertension.