Anthropometric cutoff points to identify lipodystrophy characteristics in people living with HIV/AIDS: An observational study

Introduction: currently, there is no consensus regarding accurate and low-cost methods for diagnosing lipodystrophy in people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHA). The aim of this study was to propose anthropometric cutoff points for the diagnosis of lipodystrophy among PLWHA. Methods: we included 106 PLWHA (men = 65, women = 41) who are under antiretroviral therapy and have been clinically classified into either a “lipodystrophy” or “non-lipodystrophy” group. Anthropometric measurements included 19 regions of body perimeters and 6 skinfold thickness measures. The Youden index was used to establish anthropometric cutoff points for the diagnosis of lipodystrophy, using the mean values of the anthropometric data (referred to as “original”) along with the “Z index” (ZI) values, which were adjusted by the “Phantom Strategy.” The cutoff points were proposed when “original” anthropometric measurements and ZI values had a statistical significance of p < 0.01 and an area under the curve (AUC) higher than 70%. The size effect was assessed to verify the influence of lipodystrophy on each anthropometric measure. Results: our data analysis proposes sex-specific cutoff points for the diagnosis of lipodystrophy in PLWHA – 17 points using the “original” anthropometric measurements, and 20 using the ZI values (average effect size between 1.0 and 1.1, and AUC = 76.7% and 78%). Conclusions: our study proposes accurate cutoff points for the diagnosis of lipodystrophy using “original” anthropometric measurements and ZI values adjusted by the “Phantom Strategy.” Our findings support the use of anthropometric measurements as a simplified method for diagnosing lipodystrophy and monitoring body composition alterations in people living with HIV/AIDS.