Hispanic/Latino(a) Aging With HIV: Insights From The MWCCS Cohort

TL;DR

Hispanic/Latino men with HIV are more likely to be frail but have lower cardiovascular disease risk compared to non-Hispanic/Latino White men.

Contribution

This study identifies sex-specific health disparities in frailty and CVD risk among HIV-positive Hispanic/Latino individuals.

Findings

Hispanic/Latino participants were more likely to be frail and have HIV but less likely to have high CVD risk.

Among men, Hispanic/Latino individuals had significantly lower CVD risk but higher frailty compared to non-Hispanic/Latino White men.

No significant differences in frailty or CVD risk by ethnicity were observed among women.

Abstract

Hispanic/Latino (H/L) individuals living with HIV are an understudied and diverse population with significant health disparities compared to non-H/L individuals. We examined frailty and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among H/L and non-H/L White adults aged ≥40 years in the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS). The sample included 621 H/L and 1,293 non-H/L White participants. Frailty was defined using the Fried Frailty Phenotype (FFP), with a score ≥3/5 indicating frailty. Ten-year CVD risk was categorized as low (< 5%), borderline (5–7.4%), intermediate (7.5–19.9%), or high (≥20%). Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) assessed associations between ethnicity and outcomes, with models stratified by sex and adjusted for HIV status, age, education, BMI, depression, diabetes, and hypertension. H/L participants were more likely to be women (53.6% vs. 15.9%), frail (22.5% vs. 11.8%), and living with HIV (73.3% vs. 50.7%), but less likely to have hypertension (46.9% vs. 66.3%) or high CVD risk (7.5% vs. 18.4%). Among men, H/L participants had significantly lower odds of intermediate (aOR: 0.32, CI: 0.18–0.57) and high (aOR: 0.20, CI: 0.09–0.45) CVD risk but higher odds of frailty (aOR: 3.54, CI: 1.65–7.58) than non-H/L Whites. Among women, no significant differences were observed in frailty or CVD risk by ethnicity. Despite lower CVD risk, H/L men had higher frailty, suggesting potential sex-specific disparities that require further investigation.