951 - Weight Gain Associated With Antiretroviral Therapy

Background: Obesity is a global public health crisis with a growing prevalence in persons with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH) population. In this study, we aimed to investigate factors associated with weight gain in the PWH population.

Methods: This was a single-centered, retrospective cohort study of our clinic patient population from January 1, 2015 to January 1, 2019. Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were identified from the electronic health record and a randomized sample of 300 patients who had at least two follow up appointments, were on antiretroviral therapy, and had viral loads less than 200 were evaluated. The primary outcome was weight change over follow up.  Cox Proportional Hazards models were used, taking a weight gain > 3 kg as the outcome, and the time on therapy between visits as the time to event.  Robust linear regression was used to model mean changes in weight, accounting for influential observations. All analysis were performed in STATA 16.0.Table 1


Results: At baseline, 87% were male, 63% were white, and 65% were overweight/obese. 30% were on a protease inhibitor, 46% were on non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, and 37% were on an integrase inhibitor. 64% were on Tenofovir disoproxil (TDF), 8% were on Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), and 19% were on Abacavir. Mean weight change over follow up was significantly increased at 1.31 kg (95% CI = 0.58 – 2.04 kg, p= 0.0004). TAF use and male gender were significantly associated with risk of weight gain > 3 kg in univariate analysis [respectively, OR = 2.53, 95% CI = 1.30 – 4.92, p = 0.006; OR = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.05 – 6.45, p = 0.04].  In multivariate analysis, TAF use was significantly associated with weight gain > 3 kg, while male gender was of borderline significance [respectively, OR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.17 – 4.47, p = 0.01; OR = 2.40, 95% CI = 0.96 – 5.97, p=0.060]. Significant factors associated with weight change are noted in Table 1.

Conclusion: As PWH are living longer on effective ARV therapy, monitoring for weight gain is required as obesity contributes to morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease and metabolic diseases. Key factors for weight gain in our clinic population include male gender, baseline diagnosis of hypertension, use of TAF, bictegravir use, and rilpivirine use.