Study of Cardiac Manifestations in Patients with HIV Infection and Their Correlation with CD4 Count in Indian Population

Introduction: With advances in the management of patients living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA), not only survival has increased but manifestations of late stage HIV infection are encountered more often including cardiovascular complications. Aims and Objectives: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of cardiac manifestations in patients with HIV infection and to evaluate their correlation with CD4 count. Materials and Method: 70 consecutive patients with HIV infection admitted to Post Graduate Department of Medicine from the period of July 2010 to August 2011 were studied. All cases of PLHA diagnosed after positive ELISA test for HIV infection were included, whereas those with congenital heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, hypertension, Ischemic heart disease were excluded from the study. CD4 count and 2D echocardiography along with routine investigations were done for all patients. Result: Male to female ratio was 2:1. Echocardiographic abnormalities were seen in 58% of patients. Reduced ejection fraction (below 50%) and fractional shortening below 30% were the most common cardiac abnormality (48.7%) followed by pericardial effusion (17.4%), pulmonary artery hypertension (11.4%), dilated cardiomyopathy (8.5%), diastolic dysfunction (8.5%) and regional wall motion abnormality (1.4%) respectively. Significant statistical positive correlation was observed between low CD4 count and echocardiographic abnormalities (p < 0.0001). Pericardial effusion was seen more in patients with CD4 count below 200 (p < 0.001). Maximum number of echocardiographic abnormalities was seen in WHO clinical stage IV. Conclusions: Cardiac manifestations are frequent PLHA in our population but do not have detectable clinical manifestation. Echocardiographic abnormalities have a strong correlation with low CD4 count and occur more in advanced stage of the disease.