Insidermedicine Daily News (Video)

Insidermedicine is a daily health and medical video news service created by a leading physicians. Our content library contains videos in many languages including English, Chinese, Spanish, on over 100 different diseases. Joining the likes of the Associated Press and Reuters, Insidermedicine's newstories are featured ...

Insidermedicine is a daily health and medical video news service created by a leading physicians. Our content library contains videos in many languages including English, Chinese, Spanish, on over 100 different diseases. Joining the likes of the Associated Press and Reuters, Insidermedicine's newstories are featured by Google News and The News Room. April 25, 2007 Patients with HIV who are treated with protease inhibitors have an increased risk of heart attack, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Combination antiretroviral therapy has had a dramatic effect in reducing illness and death associated with the HIV virus, however an earlier study showed that the risk of heart attacks increased by 17% with every year a patient spent on antiretroviral. It isn’t known, though, whether all antiretroviral drugs carry this risk. The assessment of the role of any specific drug is difficult because patients with HIV usually receive a combination of drugs, and often switch regimens because of the availability of newer substances, adverse events, or drug regimen failure. Previous studies have shown a relationship between the use of protease inhibitors, a class of antiretroviral drug, and cardiovascular disease, but there is little information on the risks associated with another class of antiretroviral therapy called nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors. In this study, more than 23,000 patients infected with the HIV virus were assessed to determine the incidence of heart attack and the association between heart attack and exposure to protease inhibitors or nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors. Confirming the earlier results, the researchers found the risk of having a heart attack increased by 16% per year of exposure to protease inhibitors alone, which is equal to twice the risk over five years. Not such effect was observed with nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors. It is thought that protease inhibitors raise the level of blood lipid, thereby increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack. Patients treated with protease inhibitors should have their cholesterol and blood pressure levels monitored, and take steps to reduce their lifestyle-related risk factors. This includes maintaining a healthy weight, eating a low-fat diet rich in fruits in vegetables, and getting regular exercise. Reporting for Insidermedicine, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.

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