Relationship between CD4 cell count and left ventricular dimension and function in treatment-naïve human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients

Abstract

Introduction: Echo studies have documented obvious changes in the left ventricular (LV) dimension and function of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Previous studies had suggested that patients with very low CD4 cell counts (≤200/μl) were more likely to be at risk of cardiac complications. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and correlate the LV dimension and function of treatment-naive HIV-positive patients with their CD4 cell count. Methodology: A total of 100 consenting treatment-naive HIV-infected patients and fifty healthy controls were recruited for this study. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science version 20.0. The data were subjected to appropriate statistical tests. The statistically significant P value was set at 0.05. Results: Fifty-eight HIV-infected patients had CD4 cell count of >200/μl, whereas 42 had CD4 cell count of ≤200/μl. A higher proportion of treatment-naive HIV-infected patients had larger LV dimension compared to their healthy seronegative counterparts (P = 0.01). The HIV-infected patients were more likely to have asymptomatic systolic and diastolic dysfunctions compared to the healthy seronegative adults (P = 0.01). Thirty-three HIV patients had LV systolic dysfunction consisting of 26 (61.9%) with CD4 cell count 200/μl. Thirty-four of the patients had LV diastolic dysfunction consisting of 20 (47.6%) with CD4 cell count 200/μl. The LV cavity diameter and LV mass index did not show any significant correlation with CD4 cell count ([r] = −0.018; P = 0.863 and [r] =0.012; P = 0.902, respectively). LV systolic function showed significant positive correlation with CD4 cell count, (r = 0.384; P = 0.001). Conclusion: Treatment-naive HIV-infected patients had larger LV dimension and were more likely to have LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction compared to HIV-negative healthy individuals. Some of these findings were more prevalent in HIV-infected patients with very low CD4 cell count of ≤200/μl.