Nutritional changesin patientswith HIV/AIDS – associated lipodystrophyi na reference unitin Belém–Pará

Abstract

Introduction: with the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy some patients began to present metabolic changes, like HIV/aids – associated lipodystrophy, which is characterized by body fat redistribution. Objective: To evaluate the anthropometric and biochemical changes in patients with HIV/aids – associated lipodystrophy treated in a Specialized Reference Unit, in Belém – Pará. Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study with lipodystrophic patients. Sociodemographic, economic, anthropometric, biochemical and immunological variables of the patients were analyzed. In the statistical analysis Epi Info 3.5.4 and BioEstat 5.0 softwares, with 5% significance were used. Results: 53.2% of the 62 patients were female, 53.2% were eutrophic according to BMI and 56.7% used a protease inhibitor. Women presented the mixed form of lipodystrophy more frequently and men, lipoatrophy. The adequacy deficit was present in 64.3% of patients according to arm muscle circumference, in 46.3%, according to triceps skinfold thickness and 65.5% according to arm circumference. Women presented higher percentages of very high risk for metabolic disorders, total cholesterol and high LDL-c, and men of low HDL-c and high glycemia and triglycerides. Among women, 31.3% presented a high risk of developing opportunistic infections and most patients presented low risk of worsening the disease. Conclusion: anthropometric and biochemical changes were frequent in patients, which makes individualized nutritional accompaniment an important tool in the treatment of patients with HIV-associated lipodystrophy.