Plasma Fat Status is Associated with the Prevalence of Opportunistic Infections and may Predict Disease Progression in HIV/AIDS

Objective: To establish the association between plasma fat status and the prevalence of opportunistic infections in HIV/AIDS patients. Design and Methods: A Cross Sectional and Quantitative study involving 174 adult HIV/AIDS patients recruited over a period of 18 months at a University Teaching Hospital in Ndola, Zambia. Participants were subjected to clinical assessments with anthropometry, CD4+ count, viral load and plasma fat measurements at baseline and repeated on a follow-up visit. The Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous variables and the Chi square test for categorical variables were applied to compare the study population by gender. The main research question was addressed by establishing the association between Plasma fat and Opportunistic infections, adjusted for potential confounders using the multiple linear regression model. Results: The plasma fat status revealed a higher median total cholesterol of [3.86(3.02,4.62) mmol/l], median triglyceride [1.19(0.87,1.51) mmol/l] and LDL-c [2.31(1.58,2.90) mmol/l] for females than that for the males [3.53(3.06,4.61) mmol/l], [0.96(0.71,1.60) mmol/l] and [1.86(1.36,2.80) mmol/l] individually. In contrast, median HDL-c concentration were higher in the male [1.4(1.21,1.55) mmol/l] than the female gender [1.33(1.13,1.51) mmol/l]. The results per clinical status revealed relatively more males [17(27%)] than females [15(15.2%)], p=0.06 presenting with opportunistic infections. Results in both the overall and by gender regression analyses suggested a consistent inverse interaction involving most of the plasma fat types and BMI with opportunistic infections. Conclusion: Plasma fat status was not significantly predictive of the prevalence of opportunistic infections. However, the consistent inverse association reported between plasma fat and opportunistic infections, may suggest a potential role of plasma fat in immune mechanisms or viral suppression and corresponding clinical outcomes.