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Large NIH Clinical Trial Illuminates Long-Term Health Effects of HIV

Posted on August 17, 2020

Source: NIH

Large NIH Clinical Trial Illuminates Long-Term Health Effects of HIV

"Initial data from a large NIH-supported clinical trial offer a detailed look at the health status of people aging with HIV around the world. With 7,770 participants enrolled in 12 countries across five continents, the Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV (REPRIEVE) is evaluating the ability of a statin medication, pitavastatin, to reduce the risk of heart disease among people with HIV. By leveraging data collected from this diverse group of study participants, researchers also are learning more about the long-term health effects of HIV. They report their initial findings in an August supplement for The Journal of Infectious Diseases."

"Today, thanks to highly effective daily antiretroviral therapy (ART), people living with HIV can expect a near-normal lifespan. But even when the virus is well-controlled with ART, people with HIV remain at higher risk for cardiovascular disease and other comorbidities compared to their HIV-negative peers."

"Developing more effective prevention and treatment strategies for HIV-associated comorbidities will require a better understanding of these conditions and their prevalence among people with HIV. While primarily focused on heart disease prevention, REPRIEVE is poised to help broadly address these questions, thanks to comprehensive collection of demographic and health data among its diverse study population. Study participants are 50 years of age on average, have longstanding HIV, have been receiving ART for nearly a decade, and have relatively well-preserved immune function. More than 60% are non-white, and nearly a third are female."

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