Publication:

Study the body mass index (BMI) of HIV patients at tertiary centre, Madhya Pradesh, India

Background Individuals at all stages of HIV disease are at risk of nutritional deficiency, and nutritional status is a strong predictor of disease progression, survival, and functional status during the course of the disease.

Methods It was an observational study including 269 HIV positive patients who were willing to be a part of the study. HIV individuals not willing to undergo above study were excluded from the study. The aim of our study was to assess the of body mass index in HIV patients at tertiary centre, Madhya Pradesh. Nutritional status was evaluated by using internationally accepted BMI guidelines given by World Health Organisation.

Results In this study, mean age of male HIV patients was 37.21±10.59 and mean age of female HIV patients was 34.27±8.46. Out of the 269 HIV patients, majority of 138 (51.30%) HIV patients have BMI 18.50-24.99 and 122 (45.35%) HIV patients having BMI less than 18.50. Prevalence of undernutrition in male HIV patients was 50 (36.76%) out of 136 male HIV patients and female HIV patients was 72 (54.14%) out of 133 female HIV patients. Out of 261 HIV patients, 225 (86.2%) patients have CD4 count more than 200. Patients having CD4 count less than 200, majority of patients had undernutrition that is 20 (55.56%) out of 36 HIV patients.

Conclusions The regular measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI) in centre with limited resource may therefore be useful to clinicians in monitoring patient’s response to antiretroviral therapy and predicting the stage of the disease.