We estimated small arterial elasticity and used linear regression to evaluate its association with inflammatory biomarkers among antiretroviral therapy-naïve, HIV-positive patients with high CD4+ counts. After adjustment, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 were inversely associated with small arterial elasticity. These data suggest that systemic inflammation may contribute to vascular dysfunction even in very early HIV disease.
Keywords: HIV infection; arterial elasticity; cardiovascular disease; systemic inflammation; vascular dysfunction.