Faculty Bibliography

UNLABELLED:Antiretroviral therapy has changed the course of HIV epidemic, as consequence, the patients present the same medical conditions than the rest ofthe population, including cardiovascular diseases. AIM/OBJECTIVE:To describe the evolution of cardiovascular risk of HIV positive patients attending to a HIV/AIDS integral clinical center. Clinical charts were reviewed, looking for cardiovascular risk markers. Our findings showed a deficient evaluation of the cardiovascular basal risks at first medical control and patients had important metabolic alterations despite hypolipidemic treatment. Given the higher cardiovascular risk of this population, increasing the effort on diagnosis and treatment of HIV patients is required.

OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:To analyze the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection and its influence on mortality and treatment outcome within a large AIDS cohort in Chile. METHODS:Clinical and epidemiological data from the Chilean AIDS Cohort were retrospectively analyzed. Adult patients tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) during the time period of October 2001 to October 2007 were included. RESULTS:Of 5115 cohort patients, 1907 met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of HBV co-infection was 8.4%. Overall mortality rates were 2.15 and 1.77 per 100 person-years for HBsAg-positive and HBsAg-negative HIV patients, respectively, with a mortality rate ratio of 1.22 (95% confidence interval 0.58-2.54). Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analysis did not show significant differences between the groups. Virological and immunological responses to antiretroviral therapy (ART) were not influenced by HBsAg status, but in co-infected patients, initial ART was more frequently changed. CONCLUSIONS:The prevalence of hepatitis B co-infection was 8.4%, indicating a markedly elevated hepatitis B risk compared to the general population in Chile. Neither treatment outcome nor overall mortality was influenced by hepatitis B co-infection. Still, patients with hepatitis B co-infection had less stable ART regimens, which might be related to a higher risk of hepatotoxic drug effects.