Risk stratification and prognosis of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease referred for stress echocardiography

Background-Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are at increased risk of accelerated coronary artery disease (CAD) and cardiovascular events. Stress echocardiography (SE) is routinely used for risk stratification and prognosis of patients with known or suspected CAD. The prognostic value of SE in this high-risk group is unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of SE in HIV-infected patients with known or suspected CAD. Methods and Results-We evaluated 311 patients (age, 52±9 years; 74% men; left ventricular ejection fraction, 54±12%) with history of HIV, undergoing SE (56% dobutamine). Left ventricular wall motion was evaluated on a 16-segment model, 5-point scale. An abnormal SE was defined by a fixed (infarction), biphasic, or new (ischemia) wall motion abnormality on stress. Follow-up for cardiac death and myocardial infarction was obtained. Seventy-nine (26%) patients had an abnormal SE. After 2.9±1.9 years, 17 confirmed myocardial infarction and 14 cardiac deaths occurred. SE risk-stratified patients into normal versus abnormal subgroups (event rate, 0.6% per year versus 11.8% per year; P<0.0001). Both abnormal SE (hazard ratio, 28.2; 95% confidence interval, 6.2 to 128.0; P<0.0001) and the presence of any ischemia on SE (hazard ratio, 3.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 8.6; P=0.009) were independent predictors of cardiac events. On a forward conditional Cox proportional hazards regression model, SE provided incremental prognostic value over clinical, stress ECG, and resting echocardiographic variables (global X² increased from 17.8 to 24.5 to 65 to 109, P<0.05 across all groups). Conclusions-SE can effectively risk-stratify and prognosticate patients with HIV. The presence of ischemia and scar during SE provides independent and incremental prognostic value over traditional variables. A normal SE response portends a benign prognosis even in this high-risk subset.