[Hypertension in HIV positive patients]

Survival of HIV-positive patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has significantly improved. Although traditional heart complications of the infection such as pericarditis or myocarditis has become rather rare owing to the therapy, wide range of metabolic abnormalities have been described. We focused on the evaluation of prevalence of hypertension among HIV positive patients with respect to their high cardiovascular risk. We examined 40 HIV positive patients (28 males and 12 females) followed in AIDS center in Brno. All probands underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring as a part of their cardiological examination. 40 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited. We evaluated the average value of systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure as well as the average value of heart rate (HR) within 24 hours of monitoring. Following values were found in the group of healthy controls: SBP 124.1 +/- 8.6 mm Hg, DBP 71.6 +/- 6.9 mm Hg and HR 67.9 +/- 9.7/min. HIV positive patients presented with the following values: SBP 118.5 +/- 9.3 mm Hg, DBP 76.8 +/- 5.7 mm Hg a HR 78.6 +/- 9.7/min. All the differences were statistically significant at p < 0.05. We diagnosed 14 patients with hypertension defined as SBP higher than 125 mm Hg and/or DBP higher than 80 mm Hg in both of the groups. Prevalence of hypertension in HIV positive patients was comparable to that seen in healthy controls. HIV positive patients had lower SBP but higher DBP and HR.