Correlation of Cardiac Autonomic Dysfunction with CD4 Count in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Patients

Background: Almost all organs and systems in the body are affected by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. Autonomic nervous system involvement and cardiac autonomic dysfunction is known to affect severely the quality of life in HIV patients due to fatal consequences in later stages of the disease. Aim and Objectives: Assessment of cardiac autonomic dysfunction on HIV infection/Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease Syndrome (AIDS) patients and to correlate the degree of dysfunction with Cluster of Differentiation 4 (CD4) count. Material and Methods: Fifty one human HIV sero-positive patients with 20 HIV sero-positive patients without AIDS and 31 with AIDS and 51 controls were studied for cardiac autonomic dysfunction in a tertiary care medical college hospital. The assessment of cardiac autonomic function was done by series of autonomic function tests. The number of abnormal test results correlated with CD4 count. Results: In patients with HIV, abnormal cardiac autonomic functions were observed in 5.6% of patients without AIDS and 37.5% of patients with AIDS. Significant differences between HIV patients and controls was observed for systolic blood pressure response to standing (p