HIV infection and risk of heart failure: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Background: Heart failure (HF) is commonly seen in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We aimed to evaluate the potential correlations of HIV infection and risk of HF, to provide evidence to the management of HIV and HF. Methods: We searched PubMed and other databases to identify prospective cohort studies on the risk of HIV infection and heart failure, we used Stata 13 software for Meta-analysis, and we calculated the hazard ratio (HR) values and 95% confidence interval (CI) values for the risks of HF in patients with and without HIV infections. Results: A total of five studies were included, with 8457 cases in the HIV-infection and 21917 cases in the non-HIV-infection group. Metaanalysis results showed that HIV infection can increase the risk of HF by 48% (HR=1.48, 95% CI1.31 similar to 1.67). Subgroups analyses by HIV-1 RNA viral load, CD4+ cell count, and study population also favored the overall results, and the research heterogeneity mainly come from the group of veterans in the research population. Conclusions: HIV infection is one of the risk factors for HF, which can increase the risk of heart failure, early preventions and interventions are needed for those populations.