Bioimpedance Evaluation of Body Fat Composition in Congolese HIV-Infected Patients under Antiretroviral Therapy Regimen Non-Containing Protease Inhibitors nor Stavudine

Abstract

Background: Protease inhibitors (PI) and stavudine are frequently associated with abnormalities of the body composition. The present study aimed to evaluate the body fat composition of HIV-infected Congolese patients receiving antiretroviral other than PI or stavudine. Patients and Methods: Anthropometric measures and body composition of 125 HIV-infected Congolese patients (average age 41 years, 76% women, 74% on antiretroviral therapy) attending a primary healthcare center was cross-sectionally evaluated. Patients receiving PI and/or stavudine were excluded. Subclinical abnormalities of body composition, evaluated by bioimpedance (BIA), were defined as elevated percentage of fat mass (FM) and perivisceral fat mass (PVF) and low percentage of total FM. Results: Clinically evaluated abnormalities of fat distribution were rarely seen, with any case of obesity or lipodystrophy. Overweight (16%) and central obesity (6.3%) were present only in a few women. BIA parameters of body fat composition were similar among antiretroviral naive and treated patients. An average higher percentage of FM (28% vs. 12.1%; p<0.001) and PVF (4.0% vs. 2.3%; p=0.002) were observed in women, with as well as a higher proportion of subjects with high levels of FM (12.6%) and PVF (2.2%) in the same group. Thinness was observed only in 6% of patients of whom 83.3% of men and 68.4% of women (p=0.059) had low levels of FM. Conclusion: Subclinical abnormalities of FM were present in these case series without clinically overt fat distribution abnormalities, highlighting the need for early detection of these FM abnormalities.