New York, January 19 (IANS). A team of US researchers has found that for people living with HIV, current risk models underestimate cardiovascular events in women and black men in high-income countries.
According to a new study published in the Lancet HIV journal, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of disease and death globally. This problem is even more serious for people suffering from HIV.
Previous research has raised questions about whether commonly used risk estimation models work well for people infected with HIV. In particular, the impact of these models on people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries is not fully understood.
A team of Massachusetts General Hospital and international researchers studied how well existing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk prediction models predict cardiovascular disease in people infected with HIV.
The study used data from REPRIEVE (Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV), which included information on people infected with HIV from low-, middle- and high-income countries.
The researchers found that these models underestimated cardiovascular risk for women and black men in high-income countries, while overestimating the risks for HIV-infected people in low- and middle-income countries.
“These findings may help improve heart disease risk prediction models for people infected with HIV,” said Patrice Desvig-Nickens, MD, medical officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
They also said that due to the diversity of people included in this study, it was possible to assess the accuracy of these predictions in different groups. Special efforts were made to ensure this diversity so that all at-risk people were included
“This study shows that it is important to develop region-specific and population-specific models to accurately predict the risk of cardiovascular disease for people infected with HIV,” said Steven Grinspoon, head of the Metabolism Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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