Structural Cardiac Abnormalities Appear to Persist Despite ART

Echocardiographic abnormalities were prevalent but mostly mild in a cohort of HIV-infected patients, the majority of whom were receiving ART.

Although the cardiovascular complications of both HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) are under intense scrutiny these days, little attention has been paid specifically to structural and functional cardiac abnormalities.

Researchers performed baseline transthoracic echocardiograms on 656 relatively healthy HIV-infected patients participating in a U.S. multicenter cohort study. Median age was 41, median current CD4 count was 462 cells/mm³, and median nadir CD4 count was 211 cells/mm³; 76% of participants were men. Most patients (73%) were receiving combination ART, and of these, 91% had viral loads <400 copies/mL. The estimated median duration of HIV infection was 6 years; 13% of participants reported injection-drug use as the like…

Reviewing Author

Abigail Zuger, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Abigail Zuger, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Structural Cardiac Abnormalities Appear to Persist Despite ART

Topics

Reviewing Author