Dyslipidaemia and cardiovascular risk in HIV infection

Cardiovascular disease is increasingly recognised as a consequence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the era of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). Dyslipidaemia is also a feature of HIV infection itself and the antiretroviral drugs from the protease inhibitor and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor classes. Increased rates of atherosclerotic disease and diabetes have been associated with lipodystrophy and now form one of the major causes of morbidity in HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This review, based on a multi-database keyword search, summarises the lipid changes observed in the course of HIV infection and its treatment, and puts them into the context of other risk factors for cardiac disease, and other causes of cardiovascular disease in HIV.