Nutritional and clinical status, and dietary patterns of people living with HIV/AIDS in ambulatory care in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

INTRODUCTION Nutrition currently plays a key role in the treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), especially in the case of metabolic alterations due to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which could be related to cardiovascular diseases (CD). OBJECTIVE to describe the nutritional and clinical status, and the quality of diet of PLHA. METHODS It is a cross-sectional study involving a network of ambulatory care facilities for PLHA in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Patients, in use of HAART or not, were selected from December 2004 to may 2006, through routine clinic visits. We collected: socio-demographic, clinical, biochemical, anthropometric measures and dietary data. Diet quality was evaluated according to a "protecting" or "non-protecting" pattern of consumption scores for CD. RESULTS The sample had 238 patients on HAART and 76 without treatment. Mean serum levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose were higher in the HAART group (p < 0.001). The majority of patients of both the treated and untreated group were eutrophic with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 24.4 (± 4.3) kg/m² and 24.3 (± 3.5), respectively. The waist-hip ratio was higher among men on HAART (0.90 ± 0.06 versus 0.87 ± 0.05) (p < 0.001). The HAART group showed a mean food pattern score indicating a higher consumption of "non-protecting" foods for CD (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION The results showed undesired nutritional and metabolic conditions among patients on HAART associated with CD. It is necessary to manage health intervention programs for PLHA in order to control cardiovascular risk factors before final outcomes.