Your 50 Year-old, female, HIV-positive patient, presents for a follow-up visit. She has heard that the risk of cardiovascular disease is increased among people living with HIV and asks if this is true and if she should be concerned.
Kathleen V. Fitch, MSN, Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, David Hardy, MD, Aahivs, Steven Grinspoon, MD
Background on HIV and Cardiovascular Disease
Advances in the clinical management of HIV infection over the past two decades have greatly improved life expectancy of people living with HIV. Antiretroviral therapy has dramatically reduced AIDS-related morbidity and mortality while changing the nature of a diagnosis of HIV from an acute illness with high risk for morbidity to a chronic condition that can be managed with very few pills a day. Recent findings from the NA-ACCORD cohort demonstrated that life expectancy for people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART) increased from approximately 36 years in 2000-20002 to 51 years in 2006-2007.
HIV Specialist
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