It is a well-known fact that HIV-positive people face a high risk of contracting tuberculosis, but recent studies have shown that being HIV-positive also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as certain types of cancer.
According to an article on
The AIDS Beacon, a study was undertaken at the Clinic of Infectious Diseases in Bari, Italy, to determine whether HIV-positive patients were more at risk of cardiovascular disease. The study included HIV patients undergoing anti-retroviral treatment (ART) as well as HIV patients who had never had ART.
It was found that 20% of HIV patients showed cardiovascular damage – most commonly atherosclerosis, “the hardening and thickening of arteries from the build-up of fatty molecules such as cholesterol”. It was also noted that interruptions in ART increased patients’ risk of cardiovascular damage and that cardiovascular disease was becoming an increasingly common cause of death in HIV-positive people.
According to another
AIDS Beacon article, research conducted by the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, supports the finding of the survey conducted by the Clinic of Infectious Diseases – that HIV increases the risk of atherosclerosis.
The research showed that HIV-positive patients were as likely as diabetes patients to suffer from heart disease.
As a result, scientists recommend that all patients in advanced stages of HIV undergo cardiovascular tests.
It is not only heart disease that HIV-positive individuals are more susceptible to. Research has shown that HIV also increases the risk of certain cancers. Between 30% and 40% of HIV-positive individuals will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. According to
The AIDS Beacon, some cancers have become so common among HIV patients that they are now known as “AIDS-defining”.
These forms of cancer include Kaposi’s sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cervical cancer.
According to an
AIDS Beacon article, a recent study published in the
Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) found that HIV-infected patients were also more at risk of developing non-AIDS-defining cancers.
The survey, which was conducted over seven years (1997-2004), measured the incidence of certain cancers in 33 420 HIV-infected and 66 840 HIV-uninfected individuals. It was determined that “HIV-infected individuals were 60% more likely to have anal, lung, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, melanoma, prostate, and liver cancer than non-HIV-infected individuals”.
Unlike other diseases, the risk of developing certain cancers is not related to a person’s CD4 count. According to Roger Bedimo, assistant professor of medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, many types of cancer, “like lung and liver cancer, despite being respectively two and three times more common among HIV patients than in non-HIV patients, are not associated with a lower CD4 count. So, even HIV patients with presumably good immune function are at much greater risk of cancers than non-HIV patients”.
Like the results of the cardiovascular disease studies, this research indicates the importance of cancer screening in HIV-positive patients.
Knowing what you’re dealing with is the first step in managing your health and the way it affects your life. So take control: get tested!