Patients taking long-term antiretroviral therapy may be less likely than their HIV-negative peers to develop heart disease, according to a US study published in the August 20th edition of AIDS.
Researchers from the large US Multicenter AIDS Cohort (MACS), which involves HIV-positive and HIV-negative men looked for the presence and extent of calcification of the coronary artery. Calcium deposits in the coronary artery have been shown to be an important risk factor for heart disease.
Their research showed that HIV-positive men were slightly more likely than their HIV-negative peers to have calcium present in their coronary artery. But when they looked at the extent of this calcification, they found that it was much lower in patients taking long-term HIV treatment than in HIV-negative men of the same age and race.
http://www.aidsmap.org/en/news/1BC934C7-D575-47D2-A6FF-70C32A0F47C2.asp