By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
There are a handful of drugs effective in treating HIV/AIDS. However new research shows that some of these drugs can increase the risk of heart attacks. The results come from a Garvan Institute of Medical Research study involving 20 people, 10 taking the drug Ritonavir and 10 others the drug Raltegravir for one month.
According to institute's associate professor, Katherine Samaras the levels of the participants’ blood cholesterol after meals were surprising. “We found that one drug, Ritonavir, increased the post-meal level of the blood fats and LDL cholesterol; the other drug we looked at did not do this…So this suggests there might be differences from one drug to another.”
Ritonavir is a relatively older and commonly used drug which was formerly linked to heart risk, had more adverse effects on people's metabolisms than the newer drug, Raltegravir. Dr. Samaras said, “Ritonavir looks like it's increasing blood fat levels, not only when people are fasting but also after (eating) meals.” This raises the risk of getting heart attacks she said. In general there is a raised risk of heart disease with the drugs causing weight gain around the abdomen, cholesterol increase and a resistance to insulin.