Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background: Inflammation and immune dysregulation are thought to drive residual cardiovascular disease risk among persons living with HIV (PLWH) despite effective viral suppression with antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Question: We investigated differences in carotid vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis in a longitudinal cohort of virally suppressed PLWH (n = 50; on stable ART with CD4 >250 cells/mm³, viral load <200 copies/mL for >6 months) and HIV-uninfected controls (n = 51) matched for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, hyperlipidemia, and family history of premature coronary artery disease.
Methods & Results: Participants were >40 years old at enrollment, 8% female, and had a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (Table 1). Measures of carotid inflammation and capillary permeability (K^trans), neovascularization (V_p), and wall thickness were assessed at baseline, 1 year, and change over 1 year by dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. Both PLWH and controls demonstrated a reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressures and total cholesterol over 1 year; however, the difference was not significant by HIV status. PLWH had a significant reduction in triglycerides compared with controls (-48.8 mg/dL vs 12.8 mg/dL; p = 0.026). HIV was not associated with baseline, follow-up, or change in markers of systemic inflammation assessed by plasma cytokines (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, interleukin-1ß), nor vascular inflammation or plaque as assessed by K^trans, V_p, carotid wall thickness, or percent wall volume (Tables 2 & 3).
Conclusions: In contrast to other studies of chronically treated and virally suppressed PLWH, HIV infection was not associated with carotid inflammation or plaque.