Postural Stability Deficiencies in Asymptomatic Individuals With HIV

Persons with HIV can present vestibular system impairments, affecting postural stability. There is scarce literature related to the contribution of the visual and somatosensory systems in maintaining postural stability in persons with HIV. The purpose of this study is to describe the sensory systems used to maintain postural stability and how the sources of sensory information contributes to postural stability in asymptomatic persons with HIV. Postural stability was measured in 20 asymptomatic persons with HIV (11 male, 9 female, aged 43 ± 8 years). Static postural stability was evaluated during eight conditions that perturbed the visual, somatosensory and vestibular inputs. A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare center of pressure (COP), antero-posterior displacement (APD) and right-left displacement (RLD) on stable and unstable surface and to characterize each balance sensory system. There was a significant difference in the COP and APD of eyes open condition compared to the remaining conditions on stable surface. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the COP, APD and RLD for the eyes open on a foam surface compared to the remaining conditions on an unstable surface. Postural instability can be detected in asymptomatic persons with HIV under challenging conditions, previous to the evident appearance of balance impairments.