Cardiovascular Risks of Antiretroviral Therapy

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Abstract
Treatment with potent antiretroviral therapy has transformed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection from a rapidly fatal disease into a chronic illness that some patients can live with for more than two decades. However, shortly after antiretroviral therapy was introduced, there were several reports of acute myocardial infarction and premature atherosclerotic vascular disease among young patients receiving such treatment.1 Attention quickly focused on the protease inhibitors, with speculation that lipodystrophy and its associated metabolic disorders, including hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance, were increasing the cardiovascular risk.These findings were alarming, and a flurry of research reports and editorials created a sense of . . .