Cardiovascular Risk of Antiretroviral Therapy

Both hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemiaconstitute known independent risk factorsfor cardiovascular (CV) complications. HIVinfectedpersons undergoing potent antiretroviraltherapy often show high lipid levels and, consequently,CV complications may become morecommon in treated HIV-positive patients. Preliminarydata support this assumption. Moreover, inthis context CV disease may be not only morecommon but also may develop earlier. In a recentretrospective cohort study carried out in 4282HIV-positive men on antiretroviral treatment and459,855 uninfected controls, higher rates of coronaryheart disease were found among HIV-infectedpersons having an ages between 25 and 44years-old (39th Annual Meeting of the IDSA, SanFrancisco 2001, abstract 18).