About this Research Topic
Obesity is an escalating global public health concern, affecting high-income and low-income countries alike and contributing to considerable morbidity and premature death, through an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and some cancers. For people with HIV, excessive weight and obesity on antiretroviral therapy (ART) have been well-described across a range of recent randomized trials and observational cohorts, though the underlying mechanism is not clear. Modern ART is associated with emergent obesity and rise in weight gain tends to be larger for patients who are underweight and immunocompromised at treatment start, taking integrase inhibitors, especially when in combination with tenofovir alafenamide (TAF). Black race, female sex, and aging are also risk factors for excessive weight gain. Possible cited reasons include a ‘return to health effect’, better gastrointestinal tolerability to newer antiretroviral drugs, or inflammation-mediated weight gain caused by HIV itself. Regardless of the cause, weight gain on ART is serious, particularly in the context of a burgeoning obesity epidemic in the general population in Africa.
People with HIV today enjoy greater life expectancy and are more exposed to the obesogenic environment and accumulate age-related cardiometabolic risk factors. Weight gain and treatment-emergent obesity on ART have rapidly emerged as a major clinical concern, as increasingly safe and potent ART agents are developed for the over 25 million people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. These concurrent epidemics have significant health, socio-cultural and economic implications, that require urgent attention in Africa.
This Research Topic will welcome Original Research, Reviews, and Opinion pieces that highlight the twin epidemics of HIV and obesity in Africa.
Potential topics can include but are not limited to the following:
• Pathogenesis of ART emergent obesity among people with HIV
• Cardiometabolic, gastrointestinal, respiratory, musculoskeletal sequelae of weight gain in people with HIV and other consequences.
• Weight stigma, ethical complexity, and socio-cultural aspects of obesity in people with HIV
• Interventions and other culturally sensitive approaches addressing obesity and weight management among people with HIV, including pharmacotherapy, psychosocial support, and lifestyle changes.
People with HIV today enjoy greater life expectancy and are more exposed to the obesogenic environment and accumulate age-related cardiometabolic risk factors. Weight gain and treatment-emergent obesity on ART have rapidly emerged as a major clinical concern, as increasingly safe and potent ART agents are developed for the over 25 million people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. These concurrent epidemics have significant health, socio-cultural and economic implications, that require urgent attention in Africa.
This Research Topic will welcome Original Research, Reviews, and Opinion pieces that highlight the twin epidemics of HIV and obesity in Africa.
Potential topics can include but are not limited to the following:
• Pathogenesis of ART emergent obesity among people with HIV
• Cardiometabolic, gastrointestinal, respiratory, musculoskeletal sequelae of weight gain in people with HIV and other consequences.
• Weight stigma, ethical complexity, and socio-cultural aspects of obesity in people with HIV
• Interventions and other culturally sensitive approaches addressing obesity and weight management among people with HIV, including pharmacotherapy, psychosocial support, and lifestyle changes.
Keywords: Obesity, Weight Gain, HIV, Africa, Metabolic Syndrome
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
