Pay attention to the comorbidities of the heart, lungs, and metabolic system in HIV infected individuals
Anti retroviral therapy (ART) significantly improves the life expectancy of HIV infected individuals. However, in recent years, the incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases and other complications related to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome (namely, abdominal obesity, hypertension, elevated triglyceride levels, dyslipidemia, and changes in blood glucose levels) has gradually increased among HIV infected people, which has become a growing concern. The complex interaction between sustained low-level immune activation, ART related metabolic toxicity, and non HIV related risk factors in chronic HIV infection may increase the risk of these comorbidities in HIV infected individuals. At the 19th European Conference on AIDS (EACS 2023), Professor Susanne Dam Nielsen of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, made a special report on the study of non infectious complications among HIV infected people, focusing on the latest research progress of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease and metabolic system disease complications. Our reporter invited Professor Nielsen to conduct an in-depth interview on this topic at the conference.