Are elevated lipid levels associated with an increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD)?
Based on other patient populations, it has to be assumed that patients treated with potent antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels are similarly at risk for CHD like other patient groups. Klein and colleagues reported an update about the rate of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in 4,541 HIV-infected men receiving protease inhibitors in the Kaiser Permanente HMO (health maintenance organization) in Northern California. The cases were compared to 43,118 randomly selected, age- and sex-matched control members not known to be HIV-infected. The incidence was 5.2 events per 1,000 patients per year for individuals taking anti-HIV therapy without a protease inhibitor and 5.8 for patients taking a protease inhibitor. The rate in HIV-uninfected men was 3.4. Regarding other CHD risk factors, HIV positive patients had a significantly lower rate of hypertension (high blood pressure, 13% vs 21%), a non-significantly higher rate of increased cholesterol leve
