Clinical Study of Cardiac Autonomic Dysfunction and QT Dispersion in Newly Diagnosed HIV/AIDS Patients and its Correlation with CD(4) Count.

Objectives: To evaluate the cardiac autonomic dysfunction and QT dispersion in newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS patients and to correlate the cardiac autonomic dysfunction with CD4 count.

Methods: It was a prospective study conducted on 50 patients (25 HIV positive without AIDS and 25 HIV with AIDS) and 50 healthy controls in the department of General Medicine, JLN Hospital, Ajmer. Autonomic function was assessed by Ewing battery of autonomic function tests and QT dispersion was calculated.

Results: In the present study 16% of HIV positive with AIDS had abnormal autonomic dysfunction and 4% of HIV positive without AIDS had abnormal autonomic dysfunction. 48% of patients in AIDS group and 16% of patients in HIV positive without AIDS group showed abnormal QT dispersion. There was no statistically significant correlation with CD4 count.

Conclusion: Apart from opportunistic infections, autonomic dysfunction itself can contribute to mortality and morbidity in HIV/AIDS patients. Our study showed that cardiac autonomic dysfunction is a common and relevant clinical problem. It is significantly affected in both HIV positive without AIDS and HIV positive with AIDS groups. QT dispersion is a sensitive predictor of cardiac dysautonomia. But there is no statistically significant correlation with CD4 count.