Association of Male Sex and Obesity With Residual Plasma Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 Viremia in Persons on Long-Term Antiretroviral Therapy

BACKGROUND: Although adipose tissue has been proposed to harbor part of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) reservoir, the influence of host characteristics, including sex and body mass index (BMI), on measures of HIV-1 persistence during antiretroviral therapy (ART) are incompletely understood. METHODS: We evaluated age, sex, BMI, waist circumference, years on ART, pre-ART HIV-1 RNA, pre-ART CD4+ T-cell count, and initial ART regimen with measures of HIV-1 persistence in blood (residual viremia, cellular HIV-1 DNA and RNA) in a cohort of 295 individuals with well-documented long-term virologic suppression (HIV-1 RNA <50 copies/mL) on ART (AIDS Clinical Trials Group study A5321). RESULTS: Men were more likely than women to have detectable plasma HIV-1 RNA by single-copy assay (52% vs 29%; P = .003), and the proportion of participants with detectable residual viremia increased in a stepwise fashion by BMI category (normal weight or underweight, 38%; overweight, 50%; and obese, 55%). ART regimen type was not associated with measures of HIV-1 persistence after controlling for ART duration. CONCLUSIONS: Sex and obesity are independently associated with residual viremia in people on long-term ART. Additional studies to confirm these relationships and to define the mechanisms by which sex and obesity affect HIV-1 persistence are needed to inform HIV-1 cure strategies.