Interleukin-15 is a significant predictor of sarcopenia in human immunodeficiency virus infected patients on antiretroviral therapy: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Objective: To identify the relationship between interleukin (IL)-15 levels and sarcopenia in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- infected patients who have received antiretroviral therapy. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional design with 70 participants conducted from January to March 2021. All the participants were assessed for sarcopenia and the IL-15 levels. Sarcopenia was established based on the the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 criteria. Plasma IL-15 was determined. This analysis was carried out by means of 2×2 tabulation and the statistical test used is Chi-square. Results: Seventy patients received antiretroviral therapy >6 months and showed a good clinical response. Among them, 36 (51.4%) took zidovudine-based antiretroviral therapy with a median duration of illness of 5 years. The proportion of sarcopenia in patients with HIV infection was 32.9%. The median CD4 cell count was 395.5 cells/L (range: 203-937 cells/L). Logistic regression analysis revealed that age>50 years (aOR 8.3, 95% CI 1.6-44.5), underweight (aOR 7.7, 95% CI 1.5-40.5), IL-15≥150.5 ng/L (aOR 4.9, 95% CI 1.3-19.0) and female (aOR 4.8, 95% CI 1.2-18.3 were significant and independent adverse predictors of sarcopenia in subjects with HIV infection. Conclusions: There is an association between high levels of IL-15 and sarcopenia in HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy for more than 6 months with good clinical response.