Incidence and prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in a cohort of naive HIV-infected patients: prospective analysis at 48 weeks of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

We undertook a prospective study to assess the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in HIV patients at the start of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and at 48 weeks, and we also studied its relationship with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in 60 HIV patients who maintained the same regimen during follow-up. The prevalence of MetS rose from 16.6% at baseline to 25% at 48 weeks (P=0.0001). During follow up, 7/50 patients developed MetS, leading an incidence of 14/100 patients/year. The MetS was associated with age, homosexuality, and lower hepatitis C virus prevalence; only age remained significant in the multivariate analysis (for each five-year increase: beta coefficient 4.26, 95% confidence interval, 3.80-4.75; P=0.0039). The hs CRP values were similar in patients with and without the MetS, and they did not increase at 48 weeks of HAART.