Four things you should know about HIV and heart health

Research suggests that patients with HIV have an increased risk for CV events, in part because HIV can be a cause of chronic inflammation, leading to the buildup of plaque in the arteries, resulting in CVD.

Treatments for HIV, such as antiretroviral and protease inhibitor medications, can lead to insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia. According to the REPRIEVE study, people with HIV are 50% to 100% more likely than people without HIV to develop CVD.

With that in mind, here are four things you should know about the relationship between CVD and HIV.

CAD in men with HIV is linked to inflammatory biomarkers

Higher levels of inflammatory markers are associated with greater prevalence of coronary stenosis in men with HIV, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“This study shows that even well-treated HIV patients have higher levels of inflammation compared with the general population and suggests that it may be the reason for increased heart disease in this population,” Hossein Bahrami, MD, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, told Cardiology Today. Read More

Strokes and TIA are more common among female, black patients with HIV

BOSTON — Data presented at CROI 2016 suggest that among patients with HIV, women and non-Hispanic blacks are more likely to have a stroke or transient ischemic attack.

“Several large cohort studies have identified increased rates of stroke among persons with HIV when compared with age-matched uninfected controls,” Felicia Chow, MD, assistant professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, said during a presentation. “However, many of these cohorts are subject to numerous limitations, including a reliance on ICD codes and relative homogeneity. We found a trend toward higher age-adjusted incidence rates of stroke in women compared with men. We also found that the incidence of stroke was higher in black participants, although only significant when comparing with the Hispanic/other race ethnicity.” Read More

Adults with HIV and depression have a higher risk for MI

Among adults with HIV, those with major depressive disorder had increased risk for MI compared with those without depression, according to new data.

Major depressive disorder at baseline was associated with incident MI after adjustment for demographics, risk factors for CVD and HIV-specific factors. The association was attenuated after further adjustment for hepatitis C, renal disease, substance abuse, hemoglobin level and use of antidepressants. Read More

Patients wit h HIV have unique risk factors for CVD

Due to successful treatment options, people with HIV and hepatitis C virus are living longer than before. However, these patients are at greater risk for various forms of heart disease than the general population. An emerging field of research is focusing on how to prevent and treat heart disease in these patients.

What is known: Patients with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) share many of the same risk factors as the general population, but have additional risk factors unique to their conditions. However, what is not known are the mechanisms underlying how patients with HIV and HCV acquire CVD at an early age and optimal prevention and treatment strategies. Read More