Micronutrient concentrations and subclinical atherosclerosis in adults with HIV

Extremes in micronutrient intakes are common in HIV-infected patients in developed countries and may affect the progression of atherosclerosis in this population.

We completed a cross-sectional study examining the association between serum micronutrient concentrations and surrogate markers of atherosclerosis in a cohort of HIV-infected adults.

We measured serum selenium, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin E concentrations as well as carotid intima-media thickness (c-IMT) and coronary artery calcium (CAC) in 298 Nutrition for Healthy Living participants. We assessed cardiovascular disease risk factors, c-IMT, and CAC for each micronutrient tertile by using a chi-square test for binary variables and analysis of variance for continuous variables. We performed multivariate regression of c-IMT and CAC with each micronutrient with adjustment for HIV-related and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

In the multivariate analysis, the highest tertile of serum vitamin E concentration was associated with higher common and internal c-IMT and CAC scores (P < 0.05 for c-IMT and CAC). Participants with higher vitamin E concentrations were more likely to have detectable CAC (50% compared with 44% compared with 67% for tertiles 1, 2, and 3, respectively; P = 0.004) and common c-IMT >0.8 mm (5% compared with 4% compared with 17% for tertiles 1, 2, and 3, respectively; P = 0.002). Other than vitamin E, micronutrients had no association with markers of atherosclerosis.

Our study showed that elevated serum vitamin E concentrations are associated with abnormal markers of atherosclerosis and may increase the risk of cardiovascular complications in HIV-infected adults.