HIV and Stroke

Although HIV infection and specific antiretroviral agents have been linked to cardiovascular disease, little is known about the incidence of stroke in HIV-infected patients. To explore this topic, investigators examined time trends in the proportion of hospitalized stroke patients who have HIV infection.

The researchers analyzed data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which includes discharge information on a large number of patients hospitalized throughout the U.S. They used ICD-9 codes to identify hospitalizations for stroke and applied a weighting factor to correct for potential overascertainment. They derived rate denominators from U.S. census data, including for the total number of persons living with HIV.

Between 1998 and 2006, the s…