Did you know that people with HIV are twice as likely to experience heart disease and strokes compared to those without HIV?
This significant risk demands we find ways to protect these individuals. Thankfully, a recent study offers a glimmer of hope.
HIV and Heart Disease: A Growing Concern
Living with HIV isn’t like it used to be. Thanks to many years of research and improved treatments, people with this condition can lead healthier, longer lives.
But new challenges have come to the surface. Heart disease and other chronic illnesses have become some of the main causes of sickness and death in HIV-positive people.
This is partly due to higher levels of inflammation and immune system activation in these individuals.
Statins: A Potential Solution?
Statins, a type of medication, are commonly used to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease in at-risk individuals.
They also reduce inflammation. But the question remained: could these benefits extend to HIV-positive individuals?
To find this out, a global clinical trial, called the REPRIEVE trial, was launched in 2015. It included 7,769 participants from different corners of the world, from North and South America to Asia, Africa, and Europe.
These were HIV-positive adults aged 40 to 75 who were already on HIV medication and had low to moderate risk for heart disease, which meant they wouldn’t usually be given statins.
The participants were divided into two groups. One group took a 4 mg daily dose of a statin called pitavastatin, which is considered safe alongside HIV medications. The other group took a placebo, or a pill without any medicine.
The Results
The results were encouraging. Those who took the statin lowered their risk of major heart events within five years by 35%.
They also lowered their risk of heart events or early death by 21%. Importantly, these benefits were seen across different parts of the world and among both men and women.
Steven K. Grinspoon MD, the lead researcher, was thrilled with the results. He said that the benefits were even greater than they had hoped for.
According to him, the statins did more than just lower cholesterol. They might also have calmed the inflammation and immune activation caused by HIV, which could explain their effectiveness.
Despite these exciting findings, Grinspoon emphasized that starting statin therapy is still a personal decision.
But the study clearly shows its benefits for HIV patients aged 40 to 75 with moderate to low risk and normal cholesterol levels. He hopes that these findings will lead to changes in health guidelines to include this group.
Moving forward, the team hopes to further study how to predict heart disease in people with HIV, as well as the role of inflammation. But for now, this trial is a big leap forward in our fight against heart disease in HIV patients.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that yogurt may help lower the death risks in heart disease, and coconut sugar could help reduce artery stiffness.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that Vitamin D deficiency can increase heart disease risk, and results showing vitamin B6 linked to lower death risk in heart disease.
The study was published in New England Journal of Medicine.
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