High prevalence of physical inactivity among adolescents living with HIV/AIDS

Ninety-one adolescents (from 10 to 19 years old) with HIV/AIDS who are patients at a university follow-up service were interviewed. Anthropometric data (weight, height, and waist circumference) were measured twice; clinical information was obtained from medical records, and habitual physical activity was assessed by a questionnaire proposed by Florindo et al. The cutoff point for sedentariness was 300 minutes/week.

Results:

The prevalence of inadequate height for age, malnutrition, and overweight/obesity was 15.4%, 9.9% and 12.1%, respectively. The most common physical activities were soccer (44.4%), volleyball (14.4%) and cycling (7.8%). The median times spent with physical activity and walking/bicycling to school were 141 min and 39 min, respectively. Most adolescents (71.4%) were sedentary and this proportion was higher among girls (p=0.046).

Conclusions:

A high prevalence of physical inactivity among adolescents with HIV/AIDS was observed, similar to the general population. Promoting physical activity among adolescents, especially among girls with HIV/AIDS, as well as monitoring it should be part of the follow-up routine of these patients.

Keywords
Adolescent; HIV/AIDS; Physical activity; Sedentary lifestyle

Variables	n	%
Gender
Male	41	45.1
Ethnicity
Caucasian	41	45.1
Age at diagnosis (HIV)
0–2 years	51	56.0
Age at the study
10 to 12 years	25	27.6
13 to 15 years	33	36.3
16 to 20 years	33	36.3
Mode of transmission
Vertical	87	95.6
Blood Transfusion	1	1.1
Indeterminate	3	3.3
Use of antiretroviral therapy
Yes	89	97.8
Type of antiretroviral therapy ^a a Only for adolescents receiving antiretroviral therapy.
Double therapy	11	12.4
Triple therapy	68	76.4
Quadruple therapy	10	11.2
Place of residence
Home	81	89.0
Caregiver ^b b Only for adolescents that lived with their families.
Biological/adoptive parents	51	63.0
Per capita income ^c c Calculations based on current minimum wage in 2010 (R$ 510.00).
<1 minimum wage	50	76.9
Overweight/obesity
Yes	11	12.1
Altered total cholesterol ^d d n=89 adolescents with available laboratory test.
Yes	32	36.0
Altered LDL-cholesterol^e e n=84 adolescents with available laboratory test.
Yes	14	16.7
Altered HDL-cholesterol^f f n=82 adolescents with available laboratory test.
Yes	61	74.4
Altered Triglycerides^f f n=82 adolescents with available laboratory test.
Yes	32	36.4
Sedentary lifestyle
Yes	65	71.4

Variables	Sedentary (%)	Active (%)	p-value
Gender			0.046
Male	61.0	39.0
Female	80.0	20.0
Ethnicity			0.286
Caucasian	65.9	34.1
Non-Caucasian	76.0	24.0
Place of residence			0.222
Family	69.5	30.5
Halfway houses	89.9	11.1
Caregiver ^a a Only for the adolescents that lived with their families.			0.093
Biological/adoptive parents	62.0	38.0
Other family members	80.0	20.0
Per capita income ^b b Calculations based on the current minimum wage (MW) in 2010 (R$ 510.00).			0.503
<1 MW	26.7	73.3
≥1 MW	36.0	64.0
Overweight/obesity			0.186
Yes	54.5	45.5
No	73.7	26.3
Undetectable HIV viral load ^c c n=88 adolescents with available laboratory tests.			0.791
Yes	68.8	31.2
No	72.9	27.1
Current immunosuppression ^d d Considering patients' current CDC classification.			0.657
Yes	70.7	29.3
No	77.8	22.2

Variable	Sedentary	Active	p-value
Viral load (copies)	15,922.9	15,995.8	0.994
CD4⁺ cell counting (cells)	441.7	485.5	0.596
Total cholesterol (mg/dL)	161.9	155.5	0.523
HDL-cholesterol (mg/dL)	36.7	38.8	0.395
LDL-cholesterol (mg/dL)	95.2	93.9	0.874
Triglycerides	124.2	153.3	0.081
Glycemia (mg/dL)	87.8	85.2	0.546
BMI Z-score	−0.3	0.1	0.118

		Gender^b b Male as reference.	Caregiver^c c Biological/adoptive parents as reference.	Overweight^d d Non-overweight/obese as reference.	p-value
Model 1^a a Selected model.	OR	2.56			0.045
	CI	[1.01; 6.52]
Model 2	OR	2.88	2.45		0.024
	CI	[1.06; 7.81]	[0.82; 7.29]
Model 3	OR	2.61		0.41	0.058
	CI	[1.01; 6.71]		[0.11; 1.54]

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[1] * Corresponding author. E-mail: luanaft@usp.br (L.F. Tanaka).