Weight Gain Following Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy: Risk Factors in Randomized Comparative Clinical Trials.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) often leads to weight gain. While some of this weight gain may be an appropriate return-to-health effect, excessive increases in weight may lead to obesity. We sought to explore factors associated with weight gain in several randomized comparative clinical trials of ART initiation.

METHODS:

We performed a pooled analysis of weight gain in 8 randomized controlled clinical trials of treatment-naive people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) initiating ART between 2003 and 2015, comprising >5000 participants and 10 000 person-years of follow-up. We used multivariate modeling to explore relationships between demographic factors, HIV disease characteristics, and ART components and weight change following ART initiation.

RESULTS:

Weight gain was greater in more recent trials and with the use of newer ART regimens. Pooled analysis revealed baseline demographic factors associated with weight gain including lower CD4 cell count, higher HIV type 1 RNA, no injection drug use, female sex, and black race. Integrase strand transfer inhibitor use was associated with more weight gain than were protease inhibitors or nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), with dolutegravir and bictegravir associated with more weight gain than elvitegravir/cobicistat. Among the NNRTIs, rilpivirine was associated with more weight gain than efavirenz. Among nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, tenofovir alafenamide was associated with more weight gain than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, abacavir, or zidovudine.

CONCLUSIONS:

Weight gain is ubiquitous in clinical trials of ART initiation and is multifactorial in nature, with demographic factors, HIV-related factors, and the composition of ART regimens as contributors. The mechanisms by which certain ART agents differentially contribute to weight gain are unknown.

• Authors: Paul E Sax, Kristine M Erlandson, Jordan E Lake, Grace A Mccomsey, Chloe Orkin, Stefan Esser, Todd T Brown, Jürgen K Rockstroh, Xuelian Wei, Christoph C Carter, Lijie Zhong, Diana M Brainard, Kathleen Melbourne, Moupali Das, Hans-Jürgen Stellbrink, Frank A Post, Laura Waters, John R Koethe
• Journal: Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (Clin Infect Dis) Vol. 71 Issue 6 Pg. 1379-1389 (09 12 2020) ISSN: 1537-6591 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 31606734 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Chemical References

• Anti-HIV Agents
• Anti-Retroviral Agents
• Tenofovir

Topics

• Anti-HIV Agents (adverse effects)
• Anti-Retroviral Agents (adverse effects)
• Female
• HIV Infections (drug therapy)
• Humans
• Risk Factors
• Tenofovir (therapeutic use)
• Weight Gain