Introduction:

Assessment of the quantity and distribution of body fat in people living with HIV/AIDS is of great importance in clinical practice, due to the association of body fat changes with clinical conditions. The aim of this systematic review was to answer the central question: Can anthropometry accurately measure the body fat in people living with HIV/AIDS?

Material and Methods:

Systematic review carried out using four databases: Medline, LILACS, Scopus and BDTD.

Results:

Of the 581 studies found, 11 met the eligibility criteria. To assess the validate of anthropometry, only two studies employed regress analysis to development of predictive body fat equations in people living with HIV/AIDS and nine studies employed correlation analysis. This coefficient only measures the strength of the relation between two variables, and there is not concordance between them and therefore, these studies did not accurately evaluate whether or not the anthropometric information showed good concordance with the gold standard. The other two studies developed five equations to evaluate the total fat and limbs (arm, leg and trunk) in people living with HIV/AIDS using antiretrovirals and showed R2 between 0.50 and 0.83.

Conclusions:

Further research needs to be conducted to answer the central question of this review, as the small number of articles that applied the correct statistical test and the absence of research on people living with HIV/AIDS without the use of antiretrovirals.

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