Excessive weight gain associated with integrase strand transfer inhibitor (InSTI) antiretrovirals is an emerging issue; however, the metabolic consequences of this effect have not been established. Our objective was to evaluate for InSTI-emergent weight gain and potential associated type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among a diverse HIV patient cohort. For this retrospective cohort study, we obtained clinical warehouse data for HIV+ patients between fiscal years 2007-17. We compared patients initiated on an InSTI with those started on an alternate regimen. Our primary outcome was percentage weight change from baseline to 24 months postinitiation using the linear mixed-effects model fit by restricted maximum likelihood. Our secondary outcome was incident T2DM as defined by a new prescription for antihyperglycemic medication within 18 months after antiretroviral therapy (ART) start. Diabetes-free survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional-hazards model. The cohort included 1,235 individuals initiating ART, 136 (11.0%) with an InSTI. InSTI use in women was significantly associated with greater weight gain compared with non-InSTIs (11.0%, 95% confidence interval, CI: 5.22 to 16.8, p < .01), after adjusting for potential confounding variables. In a univariate analysis, InSTI use was associated with more incident T2DM diagnoses compared with non-InSTI regimens (unadjusted hazard ratio = 3.27, p = .01), although incident T2DM was not associated with weight gain. InSTIs were significantly associated with weight gain among females. We also observed an increased risk of incident diabetes mellitus among both sexes, however, unrelated to weight changes. Further prospective studies will be necessary to confirm this finding and investigate its mechanism.
Keywords: HIV; diabetes mellitus; integrase inhibitors; obesity; weight gain.