Affiliation:
1. Infectious Diseases Unit, General University Hospital of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
2. Pneumonology Department, General University Hospital of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Abstract
Background:
Although the association between HIV infection and airways obstruction
is well known, its etiopathogenesis is not clear.
Objectives:
Our aim was to analyze the association between biomarkers of systemic inflammation
and bacterial translocation and pulmonary function tests in HIV infected patients and compare it between
smokers and non-smokers.
Methods:
Cross-sectional, observational study. Inclusion criteria: people living with HIV with undetectable
plasma viral load. Exclusion criteria: other comorbidities associated with systemic inflammation.
Outcome variables: spirometry and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide; explanatory
variables: inflammatory biomarkers (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha), bacterial translocation
(soluble CD14 [sCD14] and bacterial 16S rDNA), and variables related to HIV infection.
Associations were tested using the Pearson/Spearman correlation tests, the student t test, and multivariable
linear regression.
Results:
We included 71 patients (54.9% smokers). We did not observe significant differences in
pulmonary function tests according to biomarkers of inflammation or bacterial translocation. In
non-smokers (n=32), sCD14 was negatively correlated with forced expiratory volume in 1 second
(R = -0.35, P = 0.048) and forced vital capacity (R= -0.40, P=0.023). Age, time since HIV diagnosis
and CD4+ nadir were associated with alterations in PFTs. In smokers, the only association observed
was between the pack-years and pulmonary obstruction.
Conclusion:
In non-smokers HIV patients, lung dysfunction can be, at least partially, related to
bacterial translocation (sCD14), CD4+ nadir and time since HIV diagnosis.
Publisher
Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Subject
Virology,Infectious Diseases