HIV found to 'cause heart disease'

HIV can cause structural heart damage, according to new research. A study, was presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2013, has found that HIV can cause severe damage to the heart, leading to further health complications. The results of the research suggest that HIV patients, especially those that have a positive blood viral load, could benefit from cardiovascular screening.

Dr Nieves Montoro, from Spain, presented the research at the annual meeting of the European Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), which is a branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

A common health problem within patients that are suffering from HIV, according to Doctor Montoro, is structural heart disease. This is usually in the form of diastolic dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. This damage can be measured by echocardiography, she continued, but its cause is not known. The study was started with the aim of assessing whether certain stages of HIV or blood viral load were linked to the development of these types of heart disease.

The study included 65 patients with HIV with an average age of 48, 63 per cent of whom were male. Each of the patients were diagnosed with dyspnoea - shortness of breath - that was graded as >II on the New York Heart Association (NYHA) scale. Researchers used the patients' CD4 count in order to ascertain the stage that their HIV was at.

All patients were assessed for structural heart disease via a transthoracic echocardiogram. Cardio risk factors - including smoking status, renal failure, hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes - were also included in each individual's assessment.

Some 47 per cent of the patients were found to have some type of structural heart disease. The main types of damage included pulmonary hypertension, left ventricular dysfunction, signs of right ventricular failure and left ventricular hypertrophy. It was found that patients with a positive viral load had higher incidences of structural heart disease, with 75 per cent of them presenting with cardiovascular problems compared to only 43 per cent that had an undetectable load.    

Doctor Montoro said: "Our study shows an association between the presence of the virus in the blood and cardiac disease. These findings open the door to the hypothesis that HIV is involved in the aetiology of cardiac damage. It is known that HIV can produce a pro-inflammatory response and this could involve the heart too. We are conducting further studies to test this idea."