Introduction:
Physical activity can be an ally to minimize the appearance of lipodystrophy and its deleterious effects.
Objective:
To analyze the relationship between physical activity level (PAL) and lipodystrophy syndrome with body composition and quality of life (QOL) of patients with HIV/Aids.
Methods:
The study included 120 patients with HIV/Aids (38.55±11.47 years). They were evaluated for body mass index, body composition, basal metabolic rate, waist-hip ratio, QOL, presence, type, and location of lipodystrophy, hand grip strength, and PAL.
Results:
It was found that 70% were sedentary; in addition, lean body mass was 9.5% higher in active patients, as well as muscle strength of right hand grip (11%) and left hand grip (12%) and basal metabolic rate (6.9%). Regarding the association between QOL and PAL, a weak correlation was noted only in relation to confidentiality (r=0.2160, p=0.0210), and active patients showed better results than sedentary ones (p<0.05). Of the patients with lipodystrophy, 66% were sedentary; the predominant type was mixed lipodystrophy (46%) and the most common regions were face and abdomen. It is noteworthy that in patients without the syndrome, the basal metabolic rate was higher (p=0.0175) and the time of infection (p=0.0020) and HAART (p=0.0002) were lower.
Conclusion:
We conclude, according to the methodology, that sedentary life was predominant, PAL showed positive association only with the concern with confidentiality and the sedentary patients showed two domains below the score of 50 (financial concern and confidentiality), in relation to one domain of active patients. Lipodystrophy was present in 37% of the sample, being the most prevalent type the mixed lipodystrophy, and the main sites of occurrence were face and abdomen. For this group PAL was not positive for body composition and the presence of lipodystrophy did not influence QOL.
lipodystrophy; motor activity; HIV; acquired immunodeficiency syndrome