Researchers from the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco have found that HIV increases the risk of atherosclerosis, a condition in which artery walls thicken as a result of a buildup of fatty materials. HIV competes equally with other common high risk factors of atherosclerosis, such as diabetes and smoking. These findings support a potential change in treatment for long-lived HIV patients regarding atherosclerosis.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body’s cells cannot properly intake dietary sugar resulting in a buildup of sugar in the blood. Diabetes dramatically accelerates atherosclerosis by causing inflammation and slowing down blood flow. Diabetics, compared to healthy individuals, are twice as likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke.

When physicians examine patients, they divide their risk of atherosclerosis into three main groups: low, intermediate, and high. An intensive treatment, such as aggressive lipid-lowering drugs, is required for high risk patients. However, treatment for intermediate risk patients is based on the physician’s decision about the seriousness of the condition.

Since HIV and diabetes can equally cause atherosclerosis, the study suggests HIV infected patients in the intermediate risk group receive the same treatment as high risk patients.

These findings are unrelated to the known effects of HIV and HIV medications on other cardiovascular risk factors, such as the decrease of good cholesterol and the increase of bad cholesterol, as well as the increased risk of diabetes. The study found that in addition to those effects, HIV increases the risk of cardiovascular disease on its own.

Atherosclerosis in HIV patients is somewhat greater in women than in men, but is statistically significant in both alike.

The study did not determine possible reasons for increased risk; however, increased atherosclerosis is related to increased infection and inflammation, which are typical of the HIV infection.

The full study can be found in the online “Published Ahead-of-Print” section of the journal AIDS. For more information, please visit this news release.