European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Background: HIV is a hyper-inflammatory state. Plasma fibrinogen and serum hs CRP are cardiovascular risk factors associated with inflammation. Till date various studies have been undertaken to evaluate the predictive values of biomarkers towards progression in HIV and related diseases. In this study an attempt was made to analyze hsCRP and fibrinogen as cardio predictive marker at different stages of HIV infection. Material and Methods: It was a case control study. The patients attending Centre of excellence ART Centre were included in the study. The age group was from 16 to 50 years. In this study 200 subjects participated which were divided into two groups. One group having seropositive 150 HIV subjects. Control group having 50 HIV seronegative subjects. The seropositive group was further categorized into three subgroups based on CD4 count. The estimation of Serum hs CRP and plasma fibrinogen was carried out by chemiluminescence and immunoturbidimetric method. Results: The mean value of hsCRP in experimental group of HIV seropositive was more than control group, statistically highly significant (P<0.001) The mean value of plasma fibrinogen in experimental group of HIV seropositive was more than control group, statistically highly significant (P<0.001). The hsCRP and fibrinogen levels within the experimental group of HIV seropositive group, statistically highly significant(p<0.001). ANOVA and post hoc tukey test were applied. hs CRP with CD4≥200 comparative to CD4≥500 was statistically significant at (p<0.001).and with 201 to 500 is statistically significant at 5%level(P<0.05). However, hs CRP with CD4≤ 200 comparative to 201 to 500 was not statistically significant at 5%level(P>0.05). Plasma fibrinogen with CD4≥200 comparative to 201-500 was statistically significant at (p<0.05).and with CD4≤ 200 comparative to ≥ 500 was statistically significant at 0.1%level (P<0.001). However, Plasma fibrinogen with CD4 count 200 -500 comparative to ≥ 500 was not statistically significant at 5% level (P>0.05). Conclusion: The serum hsCRP and plasma fibrinogen, display altered expression during inflammatory disease. They can prove useful as biochemical markers to facilitate the understanding pathogenesis of diseases. It helps forecast a patient’s clinical course or response to therapy and prevent additional complications like cardiovascular diseases. Thus, serum hsCRP and plasma fibrinogen may improve global cardiovascular risk prediction in HIV-infected patients.