{"id":8895,"date":"2004-11-06T03:20:32","date_gmt":"2004-11-06T03:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/?p=8895"},"modified":"2014-05-22T16:20:46","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T16:20:46","slug":"body-mass-index-at-diagnosis-is-independent-predictor-of-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/8895","title":{"rendered":"Body Mass Index at diagnosis is independent predictor of survival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>HIVandHepatits.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Identification of basic prognostic indicators of HIV infection is essential before widespread antiretroviral therapy can be implemented in low-technology settings. This study assessed how well body mass index (BMI:kg\/m<sup>2<\/sup>) predicts survival.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BMI within 3 months of HIV diagnosis was obtained from 1657 patients aged &gt;\/=15 years, recruited in a seroprevalent clinical cohort in The Gambia, West Africa, since 1992 and followed up at least once.<\/p>\n<p>Baseline CD4+ counts and clinical assessment at time of diagnosis were done. The mortality hazard ratio (HR) of those with a baseline BMI &lt;18 compared with those with a baseline BMI &gt;\/=18 was 3.4.<\/p>\n<p>The median survival time of those presenting with a BMI &lt;16 was 0.8 years, in contrast to a median survival of 8.9 years for those with a baseline BMI &gt;\/=22.<\/p>\n<p>Baseline BMI &lt;18 remained a highly significant independent predictor of mortality after adjustment for age, sex, co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, tuberculosis, reported wasting at diagnosis, and baseline CD4+ cell count.<\/p>\n<p>Sensitivity and specificity of baseline BMI &lt;18 was comparable to that of a CD4+ count &lt;200 in predicting mortality within 6 months of diagnosis<\/p>\n<p>The authors conclude: \u201cBMI at diagnosis is a strong, independent predictor of survival in HIV-infected patients in West Africa \u2026 In the absence of sophisticated clinical and laboratory support, BMI may also prove a useful guide for deciding when to initiate antiretroviral therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The investigators also note that these study results have significant implications for drug treatment in developing countries. They conclude, \u201cBMI at diagnosis is a low-technology, affordable, prognostic indicator, independent of age, sex, CD4 cell count, or HIV type.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: HIVandHepatits.com<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Copyright 2004 by HIV and Hepatitis.com. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction for personal or educational use is encouraged and does not require permission. Written permission is required to re-print copyrighted articles but is almost always granted:<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:publisher@HIVandHepatitis.com\">publisher@HIVandHepatitis.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Reference:<\/p>\n<p>van der Sande M et al. Body Mass Index at time of HIV diagnosis: a strong and independent predictor of survival. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 37(2): 1288-1294, 1 October 2004.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hivandhepatitis.com\/recent\/developing\/100404_a.html\">http:\/\/www.hivandhepatitis.com\/recent\/developing\/100404_a.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HIVandHepatits.com Identification of basic prognostic indicators of HIV infection is essential before widespread antiretroviral therapy can be implemented in low-technology settings. This study assessed how well body mass index (BMI:kg\/m2) predicts survival. BMI within 3 months of HIV diagnosis was &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-treatment-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}