Pulmonary Hypertension in An Elderly Hiv-infected Veteran Population - Pulmonary Hypertension in An Elderly Hiv-infected Veteran Population - Open Access Pub

Pulmonary hypertension may occur as a co-morbid disease in HIV. We examined the characteristics of our HIV infected veterans with pulmonary hypertension and compared them with a control group of HIV infected patients without pulmonary hypertension. Among our cohort, patients were diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension at a mean age of 49.8 y ± 11.0y. This diagnosis came about 8.1y ± 6.7y after the diagnosis of HIV. Our pulmonary hypertension patients lived for about 3.4 ± 3.0y after their pulmonary hypertension diagnosis. The presence of pulmonary hypertension in HIV infection confers an increased risk of mortality. Mortality in our pulmonary hypertension cohort was 73%. DOI10.14302/issn.2324-7339.jcrhap-16-944 With the advent and continued evolution of highly active antiretroviral therapy HIV has become a chronic disease. HIV patients now face comorbid diseases seen the general population with pulmonary hypertension being among them. HIV-infected individuals are at a much higher risk of developing pulmonary hypertension than the general population with a prevalence in the range of 0.5% to 10% in those with HIV 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. When pulmonary hypertension occurs in the presence of HIV, mortality is increased 6. As a result it is important for providers in HIV care to understand which patients are more likely to develop pulmonary hypertension. In so doing the disease may be detected and treated early. As patients age with the diagnosis of HIV, providers will be challenged to address health care disorders common to the population of patients represented in their clinics and, additionally, be faced with managing conditions which occur among HIV-infected patients at higher rates than those not infected with HIV. In this study we examined patients with pulmonary hypertension presenting to our urban clinic and describe the characteristics and associated comorbidities among older HIV-infected veterans. Between 1989 and 2009 we identified patients with a pulmonary hypertension diagnosis enrolled in the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DCVAMC) Primary-Care HIV Clinic Registry. The diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension was made either by echocardiography or right heart catheterization. Age, gender and HIV diagnosis-year were used to create a control group without pulmonary hypertension, matched at 3:1 to those with pulmonary hypertension. A retrospective review of our comprehensive electronic medical record (Vista_CPRS) was supplemented with paper-charts where needed. Prior to initiation of work, the study was approved by our Institutional Review Board