Blog.AIDS.gov

Obesity Among People Living with HIV

2009-11-19T18:12:27-05:00

In the U.S., as we move into the holiday season there is often increased reporting on obesity. AIDS.gov asked Dr. Nancy F. Crum-Cianflone, a Research Physician with the Naval Medical Center San Diego, to provide us information on her new study of obesity in HIV-infected persons. Research has shown, HIV-infected persons are now are increasingly overweight or obese. Below is what she told us.

Obesity among HIV-infected persons: Impact of Weight on CD4 Cell Count

Since the availability of highly potent HIV medications in the mid-1990s, HIV-infected persons are less often suffering from wasting, but rather they now are increasingly overweight or obese. Prior studies have shown that obesity leads to negative health consequences in the general population including heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. We performed our study to evaluate if obesity could have additional health consequences among HIV-positive persons, specifically if obesity could affect their immune systems, as measured by their CD4 cell counts.

We evaluated over 1,000 HIV-infected persons as part of the US Military Natural History Study conducted at 7 HIV Clinics across the U.S. Participants of our study had known dates of HIV infection and had data on both weight measurements and immune cells over time. Statistical methods to evaluate the relationship of weights over time with changes in the CD4 counts included linear mixed effects models.

Of 1,119 HIV seroconverters in our study, 441 (39%) were overweight, 96 (9%) obese, and 12 (1%) were underweight at HIV diagnosis. The mean age of our study cohort was 29 years; 96% were male; 44% were Caucasian, 41% African American, and 15% other races.

We found that since the availability of highly potent HIV medications in the mid-1990s, HIV patients who were obese were more likely to have lower CD4 counts than those whose weight was appropriate. Specifically the mean post-HIV diagnosis change in CD4 counts over time was +103 for normal weight persons and +69 cells/mm³ for those who were obese. This difference was statistically significant.

In addition, we found that after beginning HIV medications for the first time, obese persons gained fewer CD4 cells than overweight persons. We also noted that underweight persons had overall lower CD4 counts than normal weight persons, emphasizing the importance of maintaining an appropriate weight.

In summary, our study found that those who were obese had lower CD4 cell counts than those of normal weights. These data suggest that lower CD4 counts may be another adverse consequence of being obese. Our study results should encourage HIV patients to achieve and maintain normal weights. As such, weight monitoring and maintenance programs may now be important components of HIV care.

Thanks to Vera Yakovchenko for her help in preparing this blog post.

Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day Flickr FAQs

2009-11-17T17:56:00-05:00

By Michelle Samplin-Salgado

As we mentioned in last week's post, we've created a Flickr group for you to upload your Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day photos. There are already hundreds of photos from the United States Conference on AIDS — we hope you'll help us add hundreds (thousands?!) more!

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from AIDSgov. Make your own badge here.

We've been talking with some of our colleagues and realize while it is very popular, not everyone is familiar with Flickr, so we're doing this post to give you a little more background.

Flickr is an online photo-sharing community that allows anyone to organize and share their digital photos with friends, family, colleagues, and the rest of the world. The HIV community has embraced Flickr as a way to share photos from events, promote photo contests, and yes, Face AIDS. AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts' Flickr photostream has over 3,000 photos. And many organizations, like the Global Health Council and YouthForce have used Flickr for photo contests. We spoke to Michael Barron, Director of AIDS LifeCycle , about how Flickr has helped to promote their annual AIDS ride by asking participants to post photos from the event. He told us, “Our dedicated cyclists and volunteer 'roadies' share photos with the donors who rallied to send them on the road to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS all over California and beyond.”

There are also a lot of exciting things happening outside the HIV community that we can learn from. For example, the Library of Congress (LOC) has partnered with Flickr to create The Commons , an archive of public photos from libraries and institutions around the world that the Flickr community is helping to describe and tag. Now there are 29 additional institutions that are participating in the Commons initiative. According to Michelle Springer from the LOC, "there are over 1000 records in our Prints and Photographs Catalog that have been enhanced by data provided by Flickr community members."

If you're new to Flickr, we've put together some steps to help you get started.

Create a Flickr account

Once you've created an account, you can edit your profile, your screen name (you can use your own name or create an alias), and control your privacy settings.You can also create your own permanent Flickr address, for example, our Flickr address is www.flickr.com/photos/aidsgov (but choose wisely, it can't be changed later!)
When you sign up, you have two options, a free account (that limits the size and number of photos you can upload or post) or a Pro account that has unlimited uploads, storage, photosets, and does not include ads on your page. You can use the free account to upload photos to the Facing AIDS group.

Upload Photos
There are several ways to upload photos to Flickr.

Flickr website : Log into your account, select "Upload photos and videos", and follow the steps to choose photos from your computer to upload. Don't forget to describe your photo with a title, description, and tags. Then click "save" and you're all set.
Email your photos : Flickr provides you with your own unique email address to add photos to your Flickr account.
From your mobile phone : To upload from your mobile phone, either visit m.flickr.com or use your phone to upload photos using your unique email address .

Note: New accounts are marked "pending" until your photos have been reviewed . You'll need to upload at least 5 public photos to have them reviewed.

Join the Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day group and upload your Facing AID photo

Once you've logged into your Flickr account, join Facing AIDS group page by clicking "join this group."
Then select "add photos" and follow the steps to select, tag, and describe your photo. We suggest adding the following tags to your photos, "WAD09" or "Facing AIDS." We also encourage you to caption your photo with the message from your sign.

Note: All members of AIDS.gov Facing AIDS Flickr group can see your photo. If you don't want anyone outside of the group to see your photo, you can change your privacy settings. Similarly, please note that we may be using the photos to compile a Facing AIDS video montage and to promote the campaign on AIDS.gov.

Have additional questions about Flickr?
Check out Flickr's help page or email us at contact@AIDS.gov.

Please join us in Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day. Together we can Face AIDS. Together we can make a difference!

Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day 2009: How You Can Take Action with One Photo

2009-11-10T17:33:00-05:00

By Jennie Anderson and Josie Halpern-Finnerty

Tree Alexander at USCA

If a picture says a thousand words, how much would a picture of you wearing a red ribbon and holding a sign that says you're "Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day" say? Could it help end stigma? Promote HIV testing? We think so - and we need your help.

Last week at the U.S. Conference on AIDS, we kicked off the relaunch of our Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day campaign. Hundreds of you stopped by our photo booth and told us why you are Facing AIDS. In doing so, you are helping to reduce stigma around HIV by putting real faces to the people who care about responding to HIV, and by helping to promote HIV testing. We first launched this campaign last year for the 20th World AIDS Day and given how many of you responded, we're doing it again this year and taking it to the next level.

Here's how you can get involved in three easy steps:

Grab the badge

Take a Photo

Download a Facing AIDS sign (PDF, 157 KB) and write a message on it that says why you are Facing AIDS.
Then take a photo of yourself wearing a red ribbon with your sign.
Upload it to our Flickr group and/or our Facebook fan page (in addition to the Flickr group, we'll be making a video of select images from the Facing AIDS campaign for you to share!).

Change your Social Network Profile Picture and Status. On December 1 change your social network profile picture to your Facing AIDS photo and your status to:

“[Your Name] is Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day. To find an HIV test site, text your ZIP to “KNOWIT” (566948), or visit www.HIVtest.org . Join me and post this to your status today.”
Share

Ask your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to join the Campaign—here's a flyer you can share. (PDF, 8.5 MB).
Add a Facing AIDS web badge to your profile, blog or website.

You can also check out and share this video about how to take part in the Facing AIDS campaign. The video features Tree Alexander from Brooklyn, New York, and AIDS.gov Director Miguel Gomez. Tree told us he chose to get involved with the Facing AIDS campaign because, "I felt the need to join to help spread awareness. I felt as a kid HIV/AIDS was not in my social network or community. I felt like it couldn't happen to me... it wouldn't happen to me. I took the photo to show HIV looks like both you and me! But, I joined because I CARE. I joined because my community NEEDS ME. I joined because HIV is REAL!"

Looking for more ways to help Face AIDS for World AIDS Day?

Join our conference call on November 17, 2009 with representatives from Federal HIV/AIDS programs. To participate, register here by November 15.
Tweet: Use the hashtag #WAD09 for all your World AIDS Day tweets. Connect with AIDS.gov on Twitter !
Write a Blog Post: Join bloggers from around the world and write a blog post on December 1 about why you choose to Face AIDS . Not a blogger? Comment on someone else’s blog post or ask your favorite blogger to join the event.

Check out our World AIDS Day page for even more ideas on how to Face AIDS. Planning to get involved? Have an idea or an event of your own? We'd love to hear from you!

U.S. to Remove HIV "Entry Ban"

2009-11-03T18:36:40-05:00

By Christopher Bates

It has been an important few weeks for those of us in the HIV community—we just wrapped up the U.S. Conference on AIDS, President Obama signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, and, as you may have heard, on Monday the U.S. took the next step in removing HIV from the list of diseases that prevent entry into this country. The repeal on the HIV “entry ban” will be effective in January of 2010. To learn more, read Secretary Sebelius’ press statement.

Highlights from the 2009 U.S. Conference on AIDS

2009-11-03T16:18:27-05:00

By Miguel Gomez, Jennie Anderson, Josie Halpern-Finnerty, and Michelle Samplin-Salgado

We just got back from the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) , sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) , and are feeling very energized. There were several themes and key messages that we took away from the conference. The opening plenary, “Transgender People and HIV: Our Time Has Come!” emphasized the importance of better understanding our audiences, specifically the transgender community. We also continued to hear that we need to improve our capacity and reach. And this year there was a new emerging theme - that of new media’s role in the response to HIV. Case in point - at last year’s USCA in Florida, we had seven people attend our new media workshops. This year we had over 150 participants!

JoAnne Keatley , UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender HIV Prevention delivers the opening plenary remarks at USCA

Many of you at USCA told us that you’re assessing how you can use new media in response to HIV. For example, Jeffrey Campbell from St. Hope Foundation in Houston told us how he is using text messaging to promote their educational and social events, primarily to African American men who have sex with men (MSM). And Kendel Powers from RAIN Oklahoma told us how they have used MySpace, Twitter, and Facbook to recruit volunteers and bring in new clients for care and treatment. It’s an exciting time for our HIV community and it’s an exciting time for new media. Because of new media, we were able to watch the President sign the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 at the conference.

USCA New Media Panelists

NMAC also embraced new media tools more than ever for this year’s USCA. Not only did they blog , they also used Twitter , posted photos , and will post videos next week . And they supported several new media sessions and our day-long AIDS.gov new media institute which had beginner and experienced user tracks. In the afternoon both tracks came together to hear from a panel of new media experts including: Ian Anderson from POZ , Allegra Madsen from ISIS Inc , Murray Penner from NASTAD , Bonnie Goldman from TheBody.com , and Erik Ireland, a podcaster for the SF AIDS Foundation . During our panel we also had a demo of AIDSspace, a new social network site focused on AIDS, from Edward Mishaud and Annmarie Hou from UNAIDS . We’ve posted our slides from the institutes and a presentation we gave on slideshare .

Throughout the conference we also heard that some folks are still getting familiar with new media tools and are trying to understand how best to use them to meet their audiences’ needs. After the opening plenary, JoAnne Keatley , Director of the UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender HIV Prevention told us, “In the transgender community, we’re using texting and other new media tools in our personal lives and it’s time now for us to adapt these tools in our work and response to HIV and AIDS.” Christopher Bates, HHS’ Director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, also reinforced this statement in his closing remarks at the conference saying how important it is to use new media to expand the reach of our HIV programs. We look forward to seeing how the HIV community continues to adapt and adopt new media this year.

Thank you to:

AIDS.gov Facing AIDS Photo Booth (Photos two and three via the USCA blog , by Brandon Joseph Baker )

The hundreds of you who stopped by our AIDS.gov Facing AIDS photo booth to share your personal messages about why you are helping to Face AIDS for World AIDS Day. We’ll soon post photos from the booth. Speaking of World AIDS Day, we hope you’ll join us on November 17th for Federal World AIDS Day Conference Call. Register now to hear from and ask questions of leadership across HHS.
All of you who participated in our focus groups and usability testing about our new website.
NMAC, in particular Circe LeCompte and Paul Kawata for putting on such a powerful conference and for helping to support our AIDS.gov activities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWsBTwNIXL4
All of you working so hard to address HIV and AIDS in your communities—USCA brought together many voices from across the country who are working so hard to address this epidemic.