Factors Associated with Incident Cardiovascular Events and Cardiac Risk Assessment in a Cohort of HIV-infected Participants in Rio de Janeiro

Background: Cardiovascular events (CVEs) have emerged as an important cause of morbimortality in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). We aimed to investigate factors associated with incident CVE and compare the observed incidence with the predicted CVE risk by three different equations. Methods: Among the 649 active participants of the INI-ELSA cohort, we analysed data of 644 individuals free of CVE at baseline examinations. We used Cox regression models to study factors associated with CVE and to assess the equation's performance we compared the observed incidence with the overall 5-year predicted risks. Results: Over a median follow-up of 6.26-years (interquartile range [IQR] 6.01-6.47), there were 18 CVE, four deaths. Overall, 57.92% were male, median age was 43.4 years (35.82-50.73), most were on cART (88.65%). Participants who had CVE were older, had poorer renal function, higher proportion of dyslipidemia and higher levels of systolic blood pressure and triglycerides. The observed CVE rate was 2.90% (1.60-4.90%) whereas their overall cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk differed depending on which score was used: 0.91 (0.42-20), 1.16 (0.38-2.78) and 1.68 (0.60-3.87), according to Framingham, ASCVD and DAD, respectively. In the multivariable Cox analysis black race, smoking 10+ packs years, dyslipidemia, current CD4 cell count x101, cumulative viral load and time on NNRTI were independent predictors of CVE. Conclusion: Both traditional and HIV-related factors were associated with incident CVE. Risk scores were inconsistent in classifying patients who had CVE as high risk, indicating that validation studies are required to improve risk assessment of PLHA in Brazil.