Non-AIDS-related conditions are a significant cause of sickness and death among people with HIV, in particular psychiatric, liver, cancer, kidney and cardiovascular conditions, HIVandHepatitis reports. Antiretroviral therapy, however, can lower the risk of kidney and psychiatric conditions.

A Spanish study, recently published in the journal AIDS, examined data spanning 2004 to October 2010 from the Cohort of the AIDS Research Network, which is a multi-center cohort of HIV-positive people older than 13 who are recruited in the HIV care centers of the Spanish Public Health System.

The researchers analyzed data on 5,185 patients, 86.5 percent of whom were diagnosed in 2004 or later, including 13,306 person-years of follow-up. The incidence rate of “non-AIDS events” (NAEs) was 28.93 per 1,000 person-years, compared with 25.23 per 1,000 person-years for AIDS-defining events. NAEs were more common in patients who were older and who had higher viral loads and lower CD4 counts when entering the study. More highly educated patients and those who contracted HIV through sex were less likely to have NAEs. Antiretrovirals lowered the chance of psychiatric and kidney-related conditions. NAEs were a factor in 28.9 percent of the 173 patients who died during the study (3.33 percent).

To read an abstract of the study, click here.

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