Someone with HIV can have more than double the chance of developing heart disease and strokes than someone who is not HIV-positive.
A trial funded by the US National Institutes of Health is recruiting HIV-positive South Africans over 40 to join Americans‚ Brazilians‚ Thais and Canadians to find a way to prevent heart disease in this high-risk population.
Antiretrovirals offer an almost normal life expectancy to HIV-positive people‚ but their greater risk of lifestyle disease shortens life expectancy.
Trial investigator Carl Dieffenbach of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the US National Institutes of Health said: "If HIV-positive people start therapy early enough [after infection] they can live a relatively normal lifestyle”.
But there was a still a gap between the life expectancy of people with HIV and those without.
“HIV is in you forever and all the therapy does is suppress it‚ but pieces of virus activate the immune system.
- Ray of hope for fresh method to beat HIVHIV researchers have a ray of hope that there may be a way to teach the human immune system to control HIV without needing medication – what is known as a "functional cure".
Activating the the immune system causes inflammation and this can increase the risk of blocked arteries and even increase cholesterol.
Initial data suggest statins‚ commonly used to control cholesterol and given to people at risk of heart disease‚ can reduce inflation in HIV-positive people.
The participants‚ 6 500 globally‚ all above 40 and below 75‚ have to be on antiretrovirals. They will be administered a low-dose statin or a placebo to see if the statin reduces their likelihood of strokes and heart attacks. They will be monitored for six years. People with HIV had a "double jeopardy"‚ said Professor Gita Ramjee of the SA Medical Research Council.
"We want all HIV-positive people to live a good life and avoid the risk of heart disease.
"Most people at 40 don’t think of heart disease‚ but HIV-positive people have to start thinking about it."
The risk of heart disease in South Africa's HIV-positive population meant the trial was important‚ Professor Ramjee said.
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