Heart Health and Behavior Change in HIV-Infected Individuals

Management of cardiovascular disease risk requires many lifestyle changes involving diet, smoking, and exercise. Individuals with arterial plaque are encouraged to adopt these changes to promote longevity through a variety of interventions. This study examined behavioral changes in response to the standard of care after detection of arterial plaque, specifically among HIV-infected cocaine users. 127 individuals (HIV - COC - n = 43, HIV + COC - n = 19, HIV + COC + n = 35, HIV - COC + n = 30) were followed after a standard of care intervention and assessed 1 and 2 years later on a variety of lifestyle (diet, exercise, smoking) and physiological (blood pressure, body mass index, number of arterial plaques) outcomes. Arterial plaque was found to increase over time (b = 0.003, SE = 0.002,p = .031), and a composite measure of cardiovascular disease risk did not change (b = - 0.004, SE = 0.01,p = .548). Following provision of a standard of care cardiovascular risk reduction intervention, important health behaviors related to CVD risk were resistant to change among both those HIV-infected and uninfected and among cocaine users and non-users.