With the success of antiretroviral therapy (ART), people living with HIV (PLWH) now enjoy longer life expectancies than ever before. However, this increased lifespan has brought a new challenge: a significantly higher risk of early cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Research shows that HIV-positive individuals are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to develop heart disease at a younger age compared to HIV-negative individuals. This article explores the underlying causes, scientific findings, and most importantly, how to reduce that risk through prevention and lifestyle changes.

Why Does HIV Increase Heart Disease Risk?

Cardiovascular disease in HIV patients is multifactorial, meaning it’s influenced by a mix of biological, lifestyle, and treatment-related factors.

1. Chronic Inflammation & Immune Activation

Even with effective ART and undetectable viral load, HIV causes persistent low-grade inflammation in the body. This leads to:

• Damage to blood vessel linings (endothelium)
• Increased plaque formation
• Accelerated atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries)

2. Immune System Dysfunction

HIV affects CD4+ T-cells, weakening the immune system. This dysfunction can:

• Promote autoimmune reactions
• Make the body less effective at repairing vascular damage

3. Side Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)

Some older or specific ART drugs (especially protease inhibitors and abacavir) are associated with:

• Increased cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Insulin resistance
• Elevated risk of metabolic syndrome

4. Higher Prevalence of Traditional Risk Factors in PLWH

People living with HIV often have a higher rate of:

• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Co-infections like Hepatitis B/C, which can indirectly impact cardiovascular health

5. HIV-Associated Lipodystrophy

This condition, caused by some ART medications, leads to abnormal fat distribution and metabolic changes, further increasing the risk of heart disease.

What Does the Research Say?

Several key studies have demonstrated the link between HIV and heart disease:

• The REPRIEVE Trial (NIH, ongoing) is investigating whether statins can prevent heart disease in HIV patients.
• A study published in JAMA Cardiology (2020) found that HIV-positive individuals had a 50–100% higher risk of heart attack than the general population.
• A 2023 report in The Lancet HIV showed increased arterial stiffness and vascular inflammation in young adults with HIV — even those on effective ART.

In short, heart disease now rivals opportunistic infections as a leading cause of morbidity in aging HIV patients.

Early Warning Signs & Screening

HIV patients often experience “silent” heart disease, where symptoms may not be obvious until major events like a heart attack or stroke occur. Regular screening is essential.

Doctors typically monitor:

• Blood pressure
• LDL/HDL cholesterol
• Blood sugar and insulin levels
• C-reactive protein (CRP) — marker of inflammation
• Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) — ultrasound measure of artery wall thickening

Prevention Strategies: How to Lower the Risk

Fortunately, many of the risks can be controlled with the right interventions.

1. Stick to Effective ART

• Modern ART regimens are safer and more heart-friendly than earlier generations.
• Staying virally suppressed reduces inflammation and immune activation.
• If you’re on older ART (e.g., abacavir, lopinavir), talk to your doctor about switching.

2. Adopt Heart-Healthy Habits

3. Control Blood Pressure & Cholesterol

• Use statins if needed — they not only lower cholesterol but also have anti-inflammatory benefits in HIV.
• REPRIEVE trial is evaluating long-term statin use in HIV for prevention even in low-risk patients.

4. Manage Diabetes and Insulin Resistance

• Monitor A1C and fasting glucose regularly.
• Adopt a low-glycemic index diet and stay active.

5. Address Mental Health & Stress

• Chronic stress and depression (common in HIV) can raise cortisol and BP.
• Practice mindfulness, therapy, and sleep hygiene.

Summary Table: HIV and Heart Disease

Final Thoughts

People living with HIV now live longer — but with longevity comes greater vulnerability to chronic illnesses like heart disease. The good news is that with early screening, modern ART, and healthy lifestyle choices, heart disease in HIV-positive individuals is largely preventable.

HIV-positive people are living longer than ever because of therapies that prevent the growth of the virus. But these patients deal with more heart troubles and barriers to treatment than other individuals, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

A scientific statement published in June 2019 in the journal Circulation highlighted that three-quarters of people over the age of 45 who are living with HIV are experiencing significantly more heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes earlier in life compared with those who don’t have HIV.

“Chronic inflammation and immune activation [or response] appear to be the primary drivers of high heart disease risk in HIV,” says Matthew Feinstein, MD, chair of the writing group for the statement and assistant professor of medicine and preventive medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.

He stresses that HIV treatment is essential, not only for controlling the virus, but also for reducing chronic inflammation and problems with immune regulation.

“Several studies have now shown that worse HIV control is associated with higher risks for heart disease,” Dr. Feinstein told Everyday Health. “So the first and most important step in preventing heart disease in HIV is getting the HIV under control with the right medications prescribed by HIV specialists and primary care doctors.”

Addressing Common Heart Disease Factors

The statement authors also observed that people living with HIV more often had factors commonly associated with heart troubles, such as heavy alcohol use, substance abuse, mood and anxiety disorders, low levels of physical activity, and poor cardiorespiratory fitness.

About 4 out of 10 are smokers, according to a nationally representative sample of HIV patients.

Quitting tobacco use, eating a balanced diet (such as the DASH diet or Mediterranean diet), and staying physically active can help lower risk, notes Feinstein.

Sarah Samaan, MD, a cardiologist with Baylor Scott & White Legacy Heart Center in Plano, Texas, who was not an author on the statement, has seen many HIV patients benefit from statin drugs to lower cholesterol and medication to lower blood pressure.

“Since some HIV medications can raise the risk of side effects from other drugs, it’s important to discuss the options for treatment with a knowledgeable physician,” say Dr. Samaan. “A good pharmacist can also help to ensure that the drugs that are prescribed are safe and appropriate.”

Living Longer But With More Health Problems

In an accompanying patient perspective published by the American Heart Association, Jules Levin, the founder and executive director of the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project (NATAP), expressed his concerns about the high numbers of serious medical problems in older people with HIV compared with the general population.

According to NATAP, those with HIV over 60 years old have an average of three to seven health conditions in addition to being HIV-positive. Comorbidities include heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, kidney disease, frailty, and bone diseases. Also, many take 12 to 15 drugs daily.

“Most people don’t know that HIV is causing accelerated aging,” says Levin, who has been living with HIV for 35 years. “Within a few years of initial infection, the immune system senescence [deterioration with age] sets in right away. Once people with HIV get into their sixties, they really have a double hit — from aging and from the effects of HIV.”

This is why Levin urges HIV-positive individuals to be screened for cardiovascular troubles as well as bone density, kidney disease, and cognitive impairment.

The scientific statement recommends trying the American Heart Association–American College of Cardiology Atherosclerotic Disease Risk Calculator as one way for getting some idea of your heart disease risk.

Overcoming Barriers to Treatment

Both Feinstein and Levin spotlight the need for improving access to healthcare for people living with HIV. The statement authors pointed out that this population is often stigmatized, and federal and local authorities could make more effort to increase care options for these individuals. Many living with HIV are homebound and cognitively impaired to a degree where they have difficulties paying bills and making decisions.

“What’s most needed are support services and better care in the clinics,” says Levin. “We need to actively demand that federal and local officials address this problem.”

He urges people to contact NATAP to explore ways to take action.

A Call for Further Research

Feinstein and his coauthors based this scientific statement on large observational studies investigating HIV and heart disease.

“But we don’t yet have much in the way of large-scale randomized trial data for heart disease prevention and treatment in HIV,” he says. “Although we have a reasonable understanding of why plaque buildup in the arteries occurs in HIV, we do not have as clear of an understanding of why the heart muscle often becomes dysfunctional or why blood clotting may occur more commonly in HIV.”

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In a current opinion article “Reduction of environmental pollutants for prevention of cardiovascular disease: it’s time to act”, published in the European Heart Journal this week.

A group of international environmental researchers from the University Medical Center of Mainz (Thomas Münzel and Andreas Daiber), from the University/BHF Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (Mar Miller), the Diet, Genes and Environment, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark (Mette Sørensen).

The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry Department, Mainz, Germany (Jos Lelieveld) and the Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA (Sanjay Rajagopalan) summarized the epidemiologic and mechanistic evidence in support of an association between noise and air pollution with cardiovascular and metabolic disease, and recommended comprehensive mitigation measures.

Environmental risk factors are increasingly recognized as important determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

While the contribution of high cholesterol, diabetes, arterial hypertension, obesity and smoking are well established, the contribution by factors such as noise and air pollution to cardiovascular disease are often not acknowledged, despite the recognition that they represent the two most common and pervasive environmental risk factors globally.

Recent data indicate that air pollution attributable premature deaths approach 9 million per year globally (mostly cardiovascular causes), accounting for a loss of life expectancy that rivals that of tobacco smoking. The health burden due to noise pollution is mostly based on loss of healthy life years, amounting to several 100 Mio. of disability adjusted life years per year.

In particular with respect to air pollution, 90% of the world population lives in an environment with air pollution levels higher than 10μg/m3, being recommended by the WHO.

The European levels air pollution limits for PM 25 μg/m3 is 2.5 fold higher than the WHO limit and a reduction of the air pollution limits down to the WHO recommendation mainly due to a phase out of fossil fuel use could prevent around 400.000 to 500.000 thousand excess deaths of Europeans. Thus, we urgently need to reduce these limits.”

Thomas Münzel, Researcher, University Medical Center of Mainz

The environmental stressors such as air pollution and noise pollution cause primarily cardiovascular disease such as chronic coronary artery disease, stroke diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension but also neurological diseases and thus represent per se cardiovascular risk factors that can be positively influenced not by doctors or patients themselves but rather by politicians by introducing noise and air pollution limits that protect us from adverse health effects caused by these environmental stressors, “the lead author Münzel comments.

The author team proposes mitigation maneuvers for to protect from air pollution induced health side effects such as active personal exposure mitigation with home air cleaning and personal equipment such as N95 respirators while face masks are not effective in ?

ltering PM2.5, Modification of human behavior to reduce passive exposures such as advising patients with pre-established cardiovascular disease to continue to remain >400 m away from major roadways to avoid exposure to traffic pollutants is a reasonable measure, despite the current lack of strong evidentiary support.

Although a variety of over the counter drugs and medications have been shown to mitigate association between air pollution and surrogates, almost none can be recommended to protect against air pollution mediated adverse health effects at this time.

With respect to noise pollution the team suggests for road traffic noise that the sound generated by the contact between the tires and the pavement is the dominant noise source, at speeds above 35 km/h for cars and above 60 km/h for trucks.

Therefore, changing to electric cars will result in only minor reductions in road traffic noise. Generally applied strategies for reducing road traffic noise include noise barriers in densely populated areas, applying quiet road surfaces, and reducing speed, especially during nighttime. Furthermore, there is a great potential in developing and using low-noise tires.

As many of these mitigation methods result in only relatively small changes in noise a combination of different methods is important in highly exposed areas.

For aircraft noise, mitigation strategies include to minimizing overlapping of air traffic routes and housing zones, introduction of night bans, and implementation of continuous descent arrivals, which require the aircraft to approach on steeper descents with lower, less variable throttle settings.

For railway noise, replacing cast-iron block breaks with composite material, grinding of railway tracks and night bans, are among the preferred strategies for reducing noise.

Lastly, installing sound-reducing windows and/or orientation of the bedroom towards the quiet side of the residence can reduce noise exposure.

To this end Münzel further proposes that “increased awareness of the health burden posed by the risk factors such as noise and air pollution and their incorporation in traditional medical guidelines will help propel legislation to reduce them and significantly improve cardiovascular health.”

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A recent study found that automated analyses of CT scans for patients with breast cancer can predict which patients are likely to develop cardiovascular disease in the future.

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The medical experts of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh have warned that ignoring the kidney stone pain can damage other parts of the body, which can be life threatening. They point out that one of the most commonly ignored ailments in people is renal stone disease (nephrolithiasis).

The Head, Department of Urology, Dr Ankur Mittal said that renal stones affect all ages from infancy to the elderly population and they are formed due to the super saturation of the urine with substances such as calcium, uric acid, cystine and oxalate. “In the initial phase these substances form crystals and around them there is further deposition and eventually a kidney stone is formed. Stones can either pass through the urinary passage and be extruded in the urine or lie asymptomatically in the kidney. It is when they get obstructed in any part of the kidney or urinary tract that symptoms develop,’’ he said.

The symptoms of renal stone disease include fluctuating and excruciating pain in the abdomen, groin and flank region that can lead to urinary tract infection with fever and chills, burning micturition and even passage of blood in urine. “An expert should be immediately contacted in case of excessive unbearable pain in the flank or in the groin,’’ the doctor suggested.

Dr Mittal said that one should drink more fluids to produce at least two litres of urine per day and various dietary modifications are advised in the form of a salt restricted diet, cutting back on the consumption of meat with avoidance of caffeinated drinks, nuts, foods that contain fructose corn syrup to combat the disease.

The Director of AIIMS Rishikesh Ravikant said that soon an ‘Advanced Urology Centre’ which is in its final stage of completion would start functioning in the institute. The centre would have a world class ‘Dornier lithotripsy machine’, and a radiology suite for urological interventions, he added.

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Patients with four-class drug-resistant HIV have a high burden of disease and “worrying” rate of malignancies, according to findings published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Around 25% develop a clinical event or death within 4 years, researchers from Italy reported.

“Because of the high burden of disease in people living with HIV (PLWH) with 4-class drug-resistant (4DR) virus, close prevention and monitoring interventions are highly recommended, especially in people with a history of clinical events and low CD4+/CD8+ ratio,” the researchers wrote. “In PLWH with 4DR virus, efforts to favor access to drugs with new mechanisms of action are also urgently needed in order to achieve undetectable HIV-RNA load, preserve immune system, prevent clinical progression and ultimately improve quality of life.”

The researchers examined patient data from 148 PLWH with documented resistance to four drugs — nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs) and integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) — via the PRESTIGO Registry. They analyzed the incidence of death, various clinical events and the burden of disease, which they defined as the occurrence of new events, including AIDS or non-AIDS-defining events or death.

Among the 148 patients, 38 patients experienced 62 new events or died (incidence rate [IR] = 9.12/100 person-years of follow-up [PYFU]; 95% CI, 6.85-11.39). The new events included 12 deaths, 18 AIDS-defining events and 32 non-AIDS-defining events. Cumulative death incidence across 4 years was 6% (95% CI, 3%-13%). The risk for death or new clinical events was higher among PLWH with pervious clinical events (adjusted HR = 2.67; 95% CI, 1.07-6.67).

The authors said the study’s major limitations included the absence of a control group.

“Although, clinical records were carefully monitored, we cannot exclude a potential underestimation of clinical events, especially of non-AIDS-related events and mortality for which a link with the national death registry is not available in Italy,” the researchers wrote. “Another issue is related to the recent establishment of the PRESTIGIO Registry: Recorded people are those who survived a previous potentially fatal event and, for this reason, we might have underestimated the true incidences of AIDS-, non-AIDS-related events and death.”

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It’s estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. live with HIV. But one in seven are unaware they even have it. Now, there’s an easier than ever way to find out if a person is HIV-positive.

Rolando Rodriguez can carry a tune. Music and his health are always at the top of his mind. Today he’s taking a screening test for HIV.

“It is an epidemic. I mean, it is something that, that is seriously, could threaten your life and your health,” he said.

The Insti HIV-1/HIV-2 Antibody Test is simple and quick. The process starts with a finger prick. A few drops of blood go into a solution and about 60 seconds later, a patient knows if he’s infected with HIV.

“This is groundbreaking for us,” prevention and sexual health specialist Shirlene Manuel said.

Manuel has been testing for HIV since the 1980s. It used to take weeks to get results. She thinks speeding up the process could slow down the spread of infection.

“It has made a difference in the amount of tests that we see come into the office now and the amount of testing that we are doing out in the community,” she said.

This rapid result test is in line with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to end the epidemic by 2030.

“If we can reach those people that are at high-risk quicker, we can get that epidemic really down where it should be,” Brian Bailey said.

Rodriguez’s test came back negative, giving him peace of mind and something to sing about.

Experts say there is one thing for patients to consider: Very recent HIV infection might not be picked up by the Insti test since the body might not have produced enough detectable antibodies. Doctors suggest patients ask their health care providers if they should consider getting retested in three to six months.

BACKGROUND: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, also known as AIDS, can be caused by HIV Type 1 and HIV Type 2. HIV is transmitted mainly by sexual contact, exposure to blood or blood affected products or from an infected mother to her fetus. Antibodies specific for HIV envelope proteins are prevalent in blood or blood products from people at high risk of contracting AIDS as well as people with AIDS. When HIV leaves a host cell, it takes part of that cell’s plasma membrane and becomes an HIV envelope. The HIV envelope isn’t only made up of components from the host. It is also made up of HIV envelope proteins. HIV envelope proteins include gp41, gp120, and gp160. GP stands for “glycoprotein”. Glycoproteins have carbohydrate, or sugar, components as well as a protein backbone. The number after the gp refers to the proteins’ length. HIV interferes with the body’s ability to fight infection and disease by damaging the immune system. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 25% of people living with HIV in the United States are unaware of their infection and thus don’t benefit from antiretroviral therapy. 

SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSING: According to Shirlene Manuel, MD, Metro Inclusive Health in Tampa, FL, back in 1988, it could take anywhere from two to six weeks to get results back. More recently, HIV testing would take at least 20 minutes before results were given. This has caused many individuals to avoid getting tested due to the fear of their results. There are four stages to the progression from HIV to AIDS. The first is Acute HIV, this then becomes Chronic HIV, then Symptomatic HIV Infection and finally the progression to AIDS. Due to the introduction of antiviral treatments, most people with HIV in the U.S. don’t develop AIDS. Although leaving it untreated, HIV can turn into AIDS in about 8 to 10 years. There are a few treatment options to prevent the spread of HIV. If an individual believes they have been exposed to HIV through sex, needles or in the workplace, they should contact a doctor as soon as possible. Patients can also take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) as soon as possible. If taken in the first 72 hours, it can greatly reduce the risk of becoming infected with HIV. Other prevention tactics include: wearing a new condom every time you have sex, using a clean needle, tell your partners if you’re HIV positive and if pregnant a patient should seek medical care right away. There is no cure for HIV/AIDS as of now, but medications can dramatically slow the progression of the disease. 

INSTI TESTING: A new test is being introduced as a quicker solution to getting results on HIV testing. The INSTI test is where physicians take a drop of blood, put it in a solution and in a minute, results are presented. It is a rapid in vitro qualitative test for the detection of antibodies. It also detects HIV Type 1 and HIV Type 2 in blood, fingerstick blood, serum or plasma. Over 15 million tests have already been performed. 

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Diabetes is the most common cause of lower limb amputations in the UK, with a someone living with the disease 20 times more likely to have an amputation than someone without the condition.

From 2015 to 2018 there were 27,465 lower limb amputations related to diabetes in England, an increase of 18.3% on the 2011-2014 period

The most significant rise was in minor lower limb amputations, defined as below the ankle, while major lower limb amputations – below the knee – showed a slower, but gradual increase.

Diabetes UK said part of the increase in amputations was due to a lack of an integrated approach by many hospitals involving podiatrists, physicians and nurses, with just 1 in 6 hospitals having such multidisciplinary specialist foot care teams.

And it highlighted the cost for the health service with at least £1 in every £140 of NHS spending going towards foot care for people with diabetes.

Dan Howarth, Head of Care at Diabetes UK, said: “Ensuring that multidisciplinary specialist foot care teams are in every single hospital across the country will not only significantly improve outcomes for people with diabetes, it will also cut down on long-term costs to the NHS.

“The differences in the standard of treatment between areas is unacceptable. An amputation, regardless of whether it’s defined as minor or major, is devastating and life-changing.

A ‘minor’ amputation can still involve losing a whole foot. Especially as many diabetes amputations are avoidable through better quality care – we have to do better.

“To stop this upward trend in amputations, we are urging NHS England to stay true to their commitments and ensure people with diabetes have access to the specialist care and support they need.”

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Researchers have found that sugar-sweetened acidic drinks, such as Soft Drinks, is the common factor between obesity and tooth wear among adults.

“It is the acidic nature of some drinks such as carbonated drinks and acidic fruit juices that leads to tooth wear,” said study lead author Saoirse O’Toole from King’s College London.

The study published in the journal Clinical Oral Investigations, found that being overweight or obese was undoubtedly associated with having tooth wear.

Significantly, they also found that the increased consumption of sugary soft drinks may be a leading cause of the erosion of tooth enamel and dentine in obese patients.

Previous research from King’s has found that tooth wear affects up to 30 per cent of European adults. It is the premature wearing of teeth due to the softening of the dental enamel from dietary or gastric acids, combined with wear and tear.

Drawing on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2004, the researchers analysed a representative sample of survey participants of 3,541 patients in the United States.

Patient BMI and the level of tooth wear were the exposure and outcome measurements in the analysis.

The intake of sugar-sweetened acidic drinks was recorded through two non-consecutive 24-hour recall interviews where the patients were asked to provide details of diet intake across these two days.

According to the study, tooth wear is ranked as the third most important dental condition, after cavities and gum disease and the consumption of acidic food and drink is a leading cause of this.

Obese patients also have other risk factors such as increased likelihood of gastric reflux disease (heartburn) which was controlled for in this study.

“This is an important message for obese patients who are consuming calories through acidic sugar sweetened drinks. These drinks may be doing damage to their body and their teeth,” O’Toole said. (IANS). 

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Women who develop preeclampsia, a form of dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy, are 5 times more likely to develop end-stage kidney disease later in life than women who have normal blood pressure during pregnancy, a Swedish study suggests.

Preeclampsia has long been linked to an increased risk of events like heart attacks and strokes years later, and some previous research also suggest that this form of high blood pressure might also be one reason why women are more likely to develop advanced kidney disease than men.

For the current study, researchers examined data on almost 2.67 million births among 1.37 million women between 1982 and 2012. A total of 67,273 women, or 4.9%, developed preeclampsia during at least one pregnancy, and 410 women developed end-stage kidney disease.

Women who had preeclampsia in two pregnancies were more than seven times more likely to develop end-stage kidney disease than mothers who never had preeclampsia, the study found.

“This study shows that pre-eclampsia is a sex-specific, independent risk factor for the subsequent development of end-stage kidney disease,” said lead study author Ali Khashan, a public health researcher at University College Cork in Ireland.

“However, the overall end-stage kidney disease risk remains small, and women with a history of preeclampsia should not be overly concerned,” Khashan said by email.

Women who develop preeclampsia earlier in pregnancy – before the halfway point – are more than nine times more likely to develop end-stage kidney disease than mothers with normal blood pressure during pregnancy.

The challenge with preeclampsia is that women often don’t experience symptoms until they have a life-threatening problem, especially when they’re otherwise healthy and have uncomplicated pregnancies.

Kidney failure, also called end-stage kidney disease, is most commonly caused by diabetes or high blood pressure. Other causes can include autoimmune diseases and genetic disorders or chronic urinary tract problems.

With kidney failure, people require an organ transplant or dialysis.

The connection between preeclampsia and kidney failure in the study persisted even after researchers accounted for other factors that can impact maternal health like age, education, and pre-pregnancy health problems like existing kidney disease or cardiovascular disease.

Women in the study who had preeclampsia were older on average and had a higher body mass index (BMI).

Among women with no preeclampsia in the first pregnancy, 14.2% were overweight and 4.9% were obese. Among women who did develop preeclampsia in their first pregnancy, 20.1% were overweight and 11.8% were obese.

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how preeclampsia might lead to kidney failure later in life.

It’s possible that risk factors like obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes contribute to both preeclampsia and kidney failure down the line, researchers note in PLoS Medicine. It’s also possible that some women who had preeclampsia might have had undiagnosed kidney problems at the time.

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LONDON: People living with HIV have a significantly elevated risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and coughs, heart disease, pregnancy mortality and sepsis, anemia and bone fractures, according to a study.

For the study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers combined data from 20 separate observational studies and examined 55 different illnesses.

They found that people living with HIV are at an increased risk of contracting specific diseases and illnesses, some of which are more commonly associated with ageing.

“By pooling data from different studies, we have been able to show for the first time that even with the rise in life expectancy amongst people living with HIV, this population now seems to be disproportionately affected by chronic illnesses often attributable to lifestyle issues such as smoking, drug and alcohol use or more commonly associated with an older population,” said study researcher Lee Smith from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.

Although the number of people contracting HIV is declining, approximately 1.8 million people are infected every year and HIV remains one of the world’s major health issues.

In recent years, people with HIV have benefited from improved access to antiretroviral treatment. However, increased life expectancy and a lower immunity has meant higher levels of comorbidity, with people living with HIV also more likely to suffer from other illnesses.

The greater prevalence of age-associated diseases may be explained by the persistent immunodeficiency and inflammation connected with HIV. There are also adverse effects associated with antiretroviral treatment.

Previous studies have also suggested that people with HIV in developed countries, as a population, often exhibit greater risk factors associated with non-AIDS related illnesses, such as smoking, drug use and alcohol use.

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Mikayla Whitworth says she began vomiting and was diagnosed with sepsis and the life-threatening flesh-eating disease necrotising fasciitis after returning to the UK after the procedure in 2015.

The 30-year-old says that upon her return, doctors were forced to cut out a 2.4in-deep, foot-wide slab of infected flesh from her stomach, MailOnline reported.

She claims that the horrific ordeal caused the breakdown of her marriage and even left her unable to play with her young son properly.

Mikayla from Ashington, Northumberland, also fears it may mean she cannot have more children.

She has begun a £100,000 legal action against the Czech firm, Perfect Clinic, and Prague Beauty, the travel agency in Mayfair, west London, where she booked the all-inclusive trip.

She decided to fork out £3,250 for a tummy tuck, liposuction, flights and accommodation after ‘ballooning’ to a size 20 after her pregnancy.

After trying ‘every weight loss program she could’, Mikayla decided to opt for cosmetic surgery.

Unable to afford the prices advertised by private clinics in the UK, she decided to travel to Prague because it offered ‘the right price, with the best reviews’.

Had she paid for a similar procedure in the UK, it would’ve cost around £10,000.

In court documents filed at Central London County Court, Mrs Whitworth claims she was told the quality of surgery and care at the clinic were ‘the same or better’ than in Britain.

However, she began to develop a fever, headache, a rash and a swollen stomach following the operation.

She says that she raised her fears about the wound being infected with Czech medics, but was dismissed and simply told to ‘eat biscuits and drink sweet tea’.

As her symptoms gradually worsened, she says she contacted the clinic once more, but received no reply.

After her return to the UK, Mikayla had to spend 6 weeks in hospital.

The mother of one says she has had to undergo four reconstructive operations and also suffers from nightmares and panic attacks.

Roman Kufa, owner of Perfect Clinic, told the Mail it was ‘normal’ for complications to happen after cosmetic surgery, however he went on to add that they affected only a very small percentage of patients.

He also said that it was more likely that Mikayla’s symptoms were a result of her failure to follow the post-surgery care plan.

Dr Kufa said: ‘I do 800 operations to 900 per year. Some people, of course, they have complications – it’s normal. If they don’t do everything correctly after the operation, it’s a very big problem.

‘If complications happen our clinic offers everything free.’

The agency and the clinic have been given more time by the court to formally respond to the legal claim.

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TRIESTE, Italy, July 23, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — The regional council of Friuli Venezia Giulia, an autonomous region in northeastern Italy, approved a motion calling on the national government to prohibit so-called puberty-blocking drugs used in so-called reassignment treatment for gender-confused children.

In a July 17 move by a center-right majority led by the League party, the Friuli Venezia Giulia regional council approved a motion calling on Italy’s national government to prohibit the prescription of drugs that prevent normal sexual development of adolescents.

The League’s leader is Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who is one of the three members in Italy’s coalition government that includes Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Party (M5S) and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The leftist parties in the regional council, including M5S, voted against the motion.

According to the council’s motion, “puberty is not a disease” and thus should not be prevented with surgery and medications that can produce irreversible effects. It also noted the long-term negative effects of drugs containing triptorelin.

“There is no evidence, in fact,” reads the motion, “on the effective full restoration of fertility in the case of withdrawal from treatment.” It cites data circulated by the American College of Pediatricians, which stated that as many as 98% of minors will outgrow their gender dysphoria (a feeling that one’s biological sex does not accord with one’s gender expression) after having passed through puberty naturally.

“We express opposition to the use of this drug,” said Mauro Bordin, according to VoceControCorrente. Bordin, who represents the League on the council and was a signatory of the motion, went on to say there are not enough clinical studies, “especially regarding the possible long-term negative effects and why blocking puberty pharmacologically could cause a misalignment in [adolescent] physical and cognitive development.” He said puberty-blockers could even compromise those parts of the brain that contribute to the definition of sexual identity, which also involve both environmental and educational factors.

Bordin said the motion is not an “ideological position, but a proposal of common sense in the exclusive interest of the health of children throughout Italy.” Critics have long warned against medical interventions for persons experiencing gender dysphoria. For example, Dr. Michelle Cretella of the American College of Pediatricians said in 2017, “Transgenderism is a psychological disorder, not a biological one.” She added, “Consequently, we expect transgenderism and its associated medical procedures to increase as society increasingly promotes this lifestyle.” Regarding a move by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to coin the term “gender confirmation surgery,” she said, “Linguistic engineering precedes and accompanies social engineering.” Cretella went on to say, “Transgender activist physicians realize that sex reassignment surgery is a misnomer. In other words, surgery cannot change a person’s sex. By renaming sex reassignment surgery gender confirming surgery, they give the impression that they are affirming an inborn trait and further the innate immutable transgender myth.”

On the Italian Notizie Pro-Vita website, pro-life activist Dr. Silvana De Mari said, “The body is real. The mind must accept this reality and love it.” According to De Mari, “where there is no harmony between mind and body, the mind must be cured; the body must not be altered. The concept that sees the body and mind as disconnected,” said De Mari, is a pathological dissociative disorder.

The American College of Pediatricians recently warned the surgeon general of the United States against surgical and hormonal methods to obscure the sex of minors. ACP pointed to warnings issued by the U.K.’s Royal College of General Practitioners that the long-term effects of these techniques have not been subjected to sufficient research.

Triptorelin is marketed by the France-based Ipsen as Decapeptyl and as Diphereline and Gonapeptyl by Ferring Pharmaceuticals of Switzerland. In the United States, it is sold by Watson Pharmaceuticals as Trelstar. Triptorelin is a synthetic version of the natural hormone GnRH, which regulates the release of gonadotropins that are involved in the development of release of ova from human ovaries. Among the side effects, for women and girls, is ovary over-production; ovarian cysts; miscarriage; and heavy, prolonged menstruation. It is used for suppressing puberty.

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With obesity now affecting almost a third (29%) of the population in England, and expected to rise to 35% by 2030, should we now recognise it as a disease? Experts debate the issue in The BMJ today.

Obesity, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that health may be adversely affected, meets the dictionary definition of disease, argue Professor John Wilding at the University of Liverpool and Vicky Mooney, representing the European Coalition for People living with Obesity (ECPO).

They point out that more than 200 genes influence weight, and most of these are expressed in the brain or in adipose tissue. “Thus body weight, fat distribution, and risk of complications are strongly influenced by biology – it is not an individual’s fault if they develop obesity.”

They argue that the recent rapid increase in obesity is not due to genetics but to an altered environment (food availability and cost, physical environment, and social factors).

Yet the widespread view is that obesity is self inflicted and that it is entirely the individual’s responsibility to do something about it, while healthcare professionals seem ill informed on the complexity of obesity and what patients with obesity want.

Recognising obesity as a chronic disease with severe complications rather than a lifestyle choice “should help reduce the stigma and discrimination experienced by many people with obesity,” they add.

They disagree that labelling a high proportion of the population as having a disease removes personal responsibility or may overwhelm health services, pointing out that other common diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, require people to take action to manage their condition.

They suggest that most people with obesity will eventually develop complications, and those who do not could be considered as not having disease. “But unless we accept that obesity is a disease, we are not going to be able to curb the epidemic,” they conclude.

But Dr Richard Pile, a GP with a special interest in cardiology and Clinical Lead for Prevention for Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group, argues that adopting this approach “could actually result in worse outcomes for individuals and society.”

He believes that the dictionary definition of disease “is so vague that we can classify almost anything as a disease” and says the question is not whether we can, but whether we should, and to what end.

If labelling obesity as a disease was harmless then it wouldn’t really matter, he writes. But labelling obesity as a disease “risks reducing autonomy, disempowering and robbing people of the intrinsic motivation that is such an important enabler of change.”

There is an important difference psychologically between having a risk factor that you have some responsibility for and control over and having a disease that someone else is responsible for treating, he says.

What’s more, making obesity a disease “may not benefit patients, but it will benefit healthcare providers and the pharmaceutical industry when health insurance and clinical guidelines promote treatment with drugs and surgery,” he warns.

While self determination is key in enabling change, “we should acknowledge that the origins of obesity for most people are social, and so too is the solution,” he adds. “If people meet, shop, cook, eat, and engage in activities together the end result will be improved wellbeing and reducing obesity will be a consequential beneficial side effect.”

Classifying obesity as a disease is neither essential nor beneficial. It’s much more complicated than that, he concludes.

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