Incidence of hypertension among persons living with HIV in China: a multicenter cohort study

Background Life expectancy among persons living with HIV (PLWH) has improved with increasing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), however incidence of chronic comorbidities has simultaneously increased. No data are available regarding the incidence of hypertension among Chinese PLWH. Methods We analyzed data collected from patients enrolled in two prospective longitudinal multicenter studies of PLWH initiating ART in China. Incidence rate of hypertension per 100 person-years (PYs) among PLWH was calculated, and Cox proportional hazards models was used to evaluate the association between incident hypertension and traditional and HIV-associated risk factors. Results Of 1078 patients included in this analysis, 984 ART-naïve patients were hypertension-free at baseline, and contributed 2337.7 PYs of follow up, with a median follow-up period of 1.8 years (range: 1.2–3.2) after initiation of ART. Incidence of hypertension was 7.6 [95% confidence interval (CI): 6.5–8.7] per 100 PYs. In the Cox regression analysis, incidence of hypertension was positively associated with body mass index [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.07 (1.01,1.13), p = 0.02] and recent viral load (aHR 1.28, 95% CI:1.08–1.51, p < 0.01), and negatively associated with recent CD4+/CD8+ ratio (aHR 0.14, 95% CI:0.06–0.31, p < 0.001), zidovudine exposure (aHR 0.15, 95% CI: 0.10–0.24, p < 0.001) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate exposure (aHR 0.13, 95% CI: 0.08–0.21, p < 0.001). Conclusions The incidence of hypertension was relatively high among Chinese PLWH initiating ART. Recent low CD4+/CD8+ ratio and detectable HIV viremia were associated with incident hypertension, whereas receipt of ART was associated with reduced risk. Hypertension may be mitigated, in part, by excellent HIV care, including viral suppression with ART. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00872417 registered on 31 March, 2009, and NCT01844297 registered on 1 May, 2013.