Assessment of the atrial electromechanical properties of patients with human immunodeficiency virus

The relationship between atrial fibrillation and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was evaluated. Electro-echocardiographic methods can be used to predict the development of atrial fibrillation (AF). In this study, we aimed to investigate the atrial electromechanical delay (AEMD) parameters of HIV (+) patients. Forty-two HIV (+) patients and 40 HIV (-) healthy volunteers were prospectively enrolled in this study. The electromechanical properties of the subjects' atria were evaluated with tissue Doppler imaging. The left-AEMD, right-AEMD and inter-AEMD were increased in the HIV (+) patients relative to the controls (p = 0.003, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). The CD4 count was inversely correlated with the inter-AEMD (r = 0.428, p < 0.001). The CD4 count was an independent predictor of the inter-AEMD (beta = 0.523, p = 0.007). Our study demonstrated that both the inter- and intra-atrial electromechanical delays were prolonged in the patients with HIV. This non-invasive and simple technique may provide significant contributions to the assessment of the risk of atrial arrhythmia in patients with HIV. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Limited on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.