HIV Infection Increases Risk of Heart Attack

The association between HIV, the virus that triggers AIDS, and heart diseases is not new. When compared to people not infected, those having the human immunodeficiency virus are at an increased risk of suffering a heart attack, states a recent study.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, Yale University and the West Haven Veterans Administration Medical Center. It involved nearly 82,000 U.S. veterans who were a part of the Veterans Aging Cohort Study Virtual Cohort. Most of the participants were men. Among them, nearly 27,350 participants were HIV-positive. The veterans were followed for 5.9 years.

"Across three decades of age, the mean AMI events per 1,000 person-years was consistently and significantly higher for HIV-positive compared with uninfected veterans," the researchers were quoted as saying in The Times of India.

They noticed that the occurrence of heart attacks in 1,000 people per year was at the age of 40-49. The occurrence was about 2.1 for those infected with HIV and 1.5 for those without HIV at the age 50-59. At the age 60-69, the occurrence was 5.0 for HIV victims and 3.3 for those without HIV.

From the study it was noticed that for those infected with HIV, the risk of heart attacks increased to 48 percent.

Though new antiretroviral therapy defends against the resistance by suppressing the HIV replication and helps the person stay for longer, heart disease is something that affects these people.

The details of the finding were published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.