Important note: Information in this article was accurate in May 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, May 14, 2001
Michael Greer, Staff Medical Writer
NewsRx - Gaining a few extra pounds may help prevent the progression of HIV to full-blown AIDS, although the reasons are still unclear.
J. Shuter and colleagues at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx conducted a study to "determine the prevalence and predictive value of overweight in an urban HIV clinic." The results were published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
Surprisingly, they found that patients who were overweight tended to have lower viral loads and were less likely to progress to AIDS than patients with a lower body mass index (BMI).
Female patients were much more likely to be overweight than male patients, Shuter et al. said. Almost a third (32.5%) of HIV positive women were overweight at the beginning of the study, and more than half became overweight at some point before its conclusion.
Overweight patients had immune cell counts similar to those of their lighter counterparts, and they began therapy at roughly the same time. Still, these patients displayed a trend toward reduced plasma HIV RNA levels and delayed progression to AIDS, study data showed.
A low BMI at baseline was strongly linked to AIDS progression, as was subsequent weight reduction ("Prevalence and predictive value of overweight in an urban HIV care clinic," J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2001 Mar 1;26(3):291-7.
"Overweight was a common and underrecognized finding, particularly among women," Shuter and colleagues concluded. "Overweight patients may progress more slowly to AIDS than non-overweight patients."
The corresponding author for this report is J. Shuter, Montefiore Medical Center, AIDS Center, Dept. of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Gold Zone1st Floor, 111 East 210th St., Bronx, NY 10467 USA.
Key points reported in this study include:
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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