Risk Factors for Incident Diabetes Mellitus Among HIV-infected Patients Receiving Combination Antiretroviral Therapy in Taiwan: a Case-control Study

Objectives: Recent studies suggest that patients with HIV infection are at increased risk for incident diabetes mellitus (DM). We investigated the incidence and risk factors of DM among HIV-infected patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (CART) in Taiwan.

Methods: Incident cases of DM were identified among HIV-infected patients at the National Taiwan University Hospital between 1993 and 2006. A retrospective case-control study was conducted after matching cases with controls for sex, age at HIV diagnosis, year of HIV diagnosis, mode of HIV transmission and baseline CD4 lymphocyte count. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify risk factors for incident DM among HIV-infected patients.

Results: In 824 HIV-infected patients eligible for analysis, 50 cases of incident DM were diagnosed, resulting in an incidence of 13.1 cases per 1000 person-years of follow-up. In total, 100 matched controls were identified. Risk factors for incident DM were a family history of DM [odds ratio (OR) 2.656; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.209-5.834], exposure to zidovudine (OR 3.168; 95% CI 1.159-8.661) and current use of protease inhibitors (OR 2.528; 95% CI 1.186-5.389).

Conclusions: Incident DM was associated with a family history of DM, exposure to zidovudine and current use of protease inhibitors in HIV-infected patients receiving CART in Taiwan.