The highest NCD among PLHIV in this cohort was hypertension (HPT). This hypertension results from prothrombotic changes and inflammation caused by HIV as evidenced by Chastain et al (21). Aging in PLHIV was directly associated with development of hypertension as the exposure to HIV also increased. Similarly, Chastain et al and Daniel et al evidenced that the time on ART, the various types of regimens and the duration of HIV diagnosis have been associated with hypertension (21, 22).
The survival of PLHIV with HPT/HIV comorbidity reduced with age as they deteriorated more over time with aging and immunosuppression thereby shortening their lifespan. Similarly, in another study in Poland, the increase in duration with HIV disease and aging has been directly associated with CVD risk (23). As PLHIV were mostly screened on the yearly routine hospital visit, it delayed the diagnosis and treatment of the hypertension among other NCDs. Delayed diagnosis and treatment of hypertension can be linked to the high morbidity and mortality among these PLHIV as previously evidenced in an American study (21).
A high case fatality rate was evidenced in diabetics in this retrospective cohort study compared to other NCDs. Management of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus can be critical as they both depend on the dietary and exercise lifestyle other than medication. Moreover, the risk of developing diabetes mellitus increased with age and years on ART from our study. A previous study in Iran by Hadavandsiri et al supported that glucose tolerance impairment increased with age (24). However, Bujuma et al also evidenced that exposure to ART and increasing years on ART was significantly associated with development of diabetes mellitus. In contrary, PLHIV on efavirenz or nevirapine in our study had higher chances of survival from developing diabetes mellitus compared to those on other regimens. This could be due to the lower influence on metabolic syndrome of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) compared to other ART classes leading to reduced risk of hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and hypertension related, as previously evidenced by Nguyen et al (25).
WHO stage 3 or 4 also increased the risk of developing diabetes mellitus due to the HIV immunocompromised state. Switching of regimens is thereby recommended to monitor glucose metabolism (21, 26, 27). The potential risk of developing hyperglycemia due to various ART switches and HIV metabolic syndrome reduced the survival of PLHIV as evidenced in our study. In contrary to our study findings, patients who were on WHO stage 1 had higher risk of developing diabetes mellitus compared to other clinical stages in an Ethiopian study (28). However, in another study in Kenya, WHO staging had no significant association with development of NCDs (29).
The immune suppression due to cervical cancer/HIV comorbidity resulted in death of one of the PLHIV in the study. We have noted a low number of cancer/NCD cases in this cohort and this has also been reported by Cheza et al in Zimbabwe that cancers have the lowest incidence rate compared to other NCDs (8). Early cervical cancer screening and the human papilloma virus vaccine reduced the cancer incidence thereby reducing the cervical cancer/HIV related mortality (30).
Our study had an HIV positive patient who also suffered chronic kidney disease and died. This could be attributed to poorly controlled HIV and exposure to other ART regimens which causes cytopathic effect to the glomerular filtration leading to renal failure as supported by Alfano et al, Naicker et al and other researchers (31–34).
Although our study reported the least number of PLHIV with respiratory illnesses such as asthma, all of them were in WHO stage 3 in ART initiation which is characterized by HIV/AIDS due to the weakened immunity. The use of ART has been evidenced to reduce respiratory infections/HIV related mortality (35–37).
Dolutegravir has been hypothesized to cause insulin resistance through the chelation of its cofactor, the magnesium ions, thereby increasing the risk of hyperglycemia. However, our study evidenced that there was no statistical significance between DTG use and development of diabetes mellitus. DTG was combined with other regimens giving better cardio metabolic profile, with DTG associated with high viral load suppression and the other regimens in the combination controlling metabolism. Moreover, our study constituted a 94% coverage of DTG users which could make the non-diabetic DTG users override the diabetic DTG users in analysis. Supporting evidence of using combined regimens to control metabolism has been reported by Tripathi et al (38).
Protease inhibitor based regimen was a hazard to diabetes mellitus in this study group. This follows as PI based regimens produce enzymes that catalyze human proteins involved in homeostasis, metabolism and cell growth thereby inducing impaired glucose tolerance (39, 40). This increases the risk of developing hyperglycemia. Hughes et al also evidenced that longer duration on protease inhibitors increased the risk of developing diabetes mellitus (41).
In our study, one in five PLHIV had an NCD. Similarly, in Uganda one in five HIV positive people had an NCD (18). The similar study findings could be due to similar country policies which are against gays and lesbians. Moreover, the economic settings in Zimbabwe and Uganda are similar as both are low resource settings. In Zimbabwe, just like other Sub-Saharan Africa countries; multimorbidity has been increasing among the adolescents and younger people with an increased risk of developing HIV related NCDs (15, 16).
Limitations
On updating the patient booklets, some of the files were disposed with information of interest such as previous ART history and patients who deceased five or more years ago, thereby eliminating some PLHIV from the cohort study. Some patients who were lost to follow up and could not be determined their interval when they were out of the study.
Recommendations and conclusion
Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are the common NCDs among PLHIV due to the metabolic syndrome from HIV and the various ART regimens, causing high morbidity and mortality in this cohort. To minimise complications related to these NCD/HIV comorbidities, we recommend routine screening of NCDs at monthly basis for early diagnosis and treatment.