Preclinical Cardiovascular Disease Among Adolescents & Young Adults with and without HIV: defining the onset of cardiovascular risk in young adults
Adolescents and young adults living with HIV (AYALH) who have survived decades of HIV, now face HIV-related comorbidities, specifically cardiovascular disease, as they age into adulthood. The epidemiology of preclinical CVD among AYALH is not defined, including age of onset, progression, and associated risk factors. Dr. Lindsey Reif work funded by NHLBI, establishes the epidemiology of preclinical CVD among AYALH and adapts an evidence-based intervention to prevent the onset of preclinical CVD and its progression through a prospective cohort study of 500 HIV+ and 500 HIV- participants ages 18-30 years in Haiti followed for 3 years.
In addition, our study among young people age 18-30 years without HIV in Haiti showed high blood pressure prevalence was 23.5% (95% CI: 20.9%–26.3%) including 12.1% with elevated BP (95% CI: 10.1%–14.4%), 7.9% with stage 1 hypertension (95% CI: 6.3%–9.8%) and 3.5% with stage 2 hypertension (95% CI: 2.4%–4.8%). Dyslipidemia prevalence was 34.9% (95% CI: 31.8%–38.1%), kidney disease prevalence was 6.4% (95% CI: 5.3%–8.6%) (Reif et al., 2025).