Blood pressure in relation to the World Health Organization AIDS clinical staging among adults living in rural Kenya

Introduction: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an independent risk factor of arterial hypertension. There is a limited data on blood pressure among HIV-positive patients living in rural areas in Africa according to the clinical progress of the disease. The aim of the study was to compare blood pressure (BP) parameters among HIV-positive adults with advanced and non-advanced HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) living in rural Kenya. Material and methods: In this prospective, two-center, cross-sectional study, we examined HIV-positive individuals visiting the outpatient department for a routine check-up. BP was measured by OMRON M2 Basic BP monitor (Omron, Japan) and clinical data was collected from patients’ data charts. World Health Organization AIDS clinical stage (WACS) equal to 1 was defined as non-advanced HIV, while WACS equals 2, 3, or 4 were classified as advanced HIV. Data presented as median (inter-quartile range). Results: From the total of 245 (female, 192; 78%) participants, 162 individuals presented non-advanced HIV disease, whereas 83 had advanced HIV. Both groups did not differ significantly regarding sex, age, time since HIV diagnosis, body mass index, waist circumference, use of antiretroviral treatment, nor presence of abnormal blood pressure. However, there were significant differences between patients with non-advanced HIV and advanced HIV in diastolic BP (DBP) [71 (64-77) vs. 81 (75-88); p < 0.0001], mean BP (MBP) [87 (80-94) vs. 95 (88-102); p < 0.0001], and pulse pressure (PP) [48 (42-56) vs. 43 (35-50); p < 0.0001]. A tendency, but not significant difference between study groups in systolic BP [119 (109-129) vs. 122 (114-133); p = 0.07] was observed. Conclusions: HIV-positive patients with advanced form of HIV disease have higher DBP, MBP, and lower PP than individuals with non-advanced HIV living in rural Kenya.