The Association Between HIV-Related Stigma, ART Adherence, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in People Living With HIV.

Introduction: HIV/AIDS continues to be a significant health issue in sub-Saharan Africa, with stigma likely affecting ART adherence, and subsequently viremia, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). We investigated the association between stigma, ART adherence, and CVD risk among people living with HIV (PLWH).

Setting: A longitudinal study was conducted among 325 PLWH from the Ndlovu Cohort Study, South Africa.

Methods: Stigma was assessed using a 12-item questionnaire (range: 0-44; higher scores indicate greater stigma). Pulse wave velocity (PWV, CVD surrogate marker) and viral load (VL) were assessed at 12 and 36 months. VL was considered a surrogate marker of ART adherence: VL > 1000 copies indicating poor/no adherence, VL 50-1000 copies suboptimal, and VL < 50 copies good adherence. The relationship between stigma, VL, and PWV was assessed by linear regression and changes in PWV overtime by mixed linear models.

Results: At baseline, PLWH (n = 325, mean age (SD) = 41.1 (10.2) years, 67% female) had mean PWV of 7.3 min/s. Good, suboptimal, and poor adherence were 78%, 15%, and 7%, respectively. The mean (SD) stigma score was 16.9 (1.4) and was not associated with VL and PWV. Suboptimal and poor adherence were associated with higher PWV [beta = 4.18 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.79 to 6.57)] at 12 months and between 12 and 36 months [beta = 1.30 (95% CI: 0.06 to 2.55)] in mixed model analyses in PLWH older than 49 years, respectively. PWV increased by 0.21 min/s (95% CI: 0.02 to 0.40; P = 0.03) between 12 and 36 months overall.

Conclusions: In this study, poor ART adherence was associated with higher PWV. The stigma score was low and not associated with ART adherence and PWV.