Children with perinatally acquired HIV had increased levels of pro-inflammatory cardiovascular biomarkers compared with children without HIV, according to findings published in AIDS. Rashida Ferrand, FRCP, MSc, PhD, DTM&H, and colleagues analyzed 406 children, including 195 with perinatally acquired HIV (mean age, 10.7) and 211 HIVnegative children (mean age, 10.8). Plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor a, soluble interleukin 1 receptor-like 1, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, and growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) were all significantly higher among children with HIV (P<0.001). In this group, when one unit represented one standard deviation in biomarker level, a one-unit increase in CRP (adjusted OR [aOR], 1.49; P<0.040) and GDF-15 (aOR, 1.71; P=0.006) was associated with greater odds of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction. Every single unit increase in GDF-15 was associated with higher odds of LV hypertrophy (aOR, 1.84; P<0.021). “Increased CRP and GDF-15 were associated with cardiac abnormalities in children with [perinatally acquired HIV],” Dr. Ferrand and colleagues wrote.
