Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) In HIV Patients

HIV is a disease throughout the world, the number

of patients suffering from this infection continues to increase.
According to the 2013 World Health Organization report, the
number of patients worldwide is 35 million with more than 1
million patients dying of HIV-related diseases every year. Apart
from the obvious implications of HIV such as the development
of AIDS, other potentially deadly complications may arise, one
of which is the effect of suffering from HIV on the coronary
system. HIV patients can develop coronary artery disease at a
very young age.

The relationship of coronary heart disease (CHD)

and human immune virus infection has been known for years.
The etiology of increasing prevalence of CHD in HIV-infected
populations is the result of complex interactions between viral
infections. Many studies show that smokers, dyslipidemia,
diabetes, hypertension which are traditional risk factors for
CAD can increase the risk of CAD in HIV-infected patients.

Several studies have discussed the nature of

atherosclerotic lesions in HIV-infected populations. They
concluded that HIV patients without significant metabolic
abnormalities could still develop uncalcified plaques and
therefore a higher risk for coronary artery disease (CAD).

Other studies assessed the increased risk of

atherosclerosis in HIV-infected patients by measuring intima-
carotid media thickness (BMI) in 145 HIV patients who were
taking antiretroviral therapy for at least 6 months. They
revealed that 34 (23.4%) of these patients had carotid plaques
associated with three independent risk factors.

In conclusion, "it is better to prevent than cure" we

often hear these words. This means that it is better for us to
care for and care for our bodies before things that are not cold
occur so care must be taken. In this case, prevention of
coronary artery disease (CAD) in HIV-infected patients should
be a major concern. Because there are many things that make it
difficult to identify and treat these at-risk patients.