A study assessed the type, frequency, prevalence, and clinical spectrum of rheumatic manifestations among male patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) followed at an HIV clinic of a tertiary care center. The findings appeared in The Journal of the Association of Physicians of India.
In this study, HIV cases were evaluated for rheumatic manifestations during the study period. A detailed history was taken of the population of interest, including the date of seropositivity, symptoms of rheumatic disease, family history of rheumatic illness, and treatment history with anti-retroviral therapy (ART). In total, 879 confirmed HIV cases were evaluated for rheumatic manifestations, of which 499 cases were newly detected and the rest (n=380) were old cases on follow-up.
The results showed that rheumatic manifestations were diagnosed in only 1.82% of cases. Of those manifestations, spondyloarthropathy was found to be the common rheumatic presentation, observed in over 31% of the study population.
“With the advent of ART, the clinical spectrum of HIV infection is changing as a chronic treatable disease,” the researchers concluded. “Early diagnosis, availability of ART and prompt treatment of opportunistic infections have changed the clinical profile of HIV patients. Impact of ART in producing and affecting the clinical spectrum of rheumatic disease has to be kept in mind while treating HIV-infected patients.”
Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34781658/
Keywords: rheumatic manifestations, ART, HIV
