BMJ 2003;326:337 ( 8 February )

Letters

Antiretroviral therapy: new solutions bring new problems

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Jordan et al's meta-analysis of antiretroviral drug regimens supports the continued use of triple therapy for established HIV infections in adolescent and adult patients.1 While any advance in combating the progression of HIV is clearly welcome, the potential side effects of treatment need to be known.

Antiretroviral inhibitor use is associated with a range of morphological and metabolic alterations. Altered glucose homeostasis may result in the development of frank diabetes mellitus in up to 7% of patients. Lipid metabolism is also affected and may lead to changes in serum lipid concentrations, which may contribute to an increase in the occurrence of pancreatitis.2


Table Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)

Lipodystrophy is a commonly encountered problem associated with antiretroviral therapy and has been found in 50-60% of patients after as little as one year of drug treatment. Characteristic morphological changes include central, intra-abdominal fat deposition, as well as fat deposition in the dorso-cervical ("buffalo hump") and . . . [Full text of this article]
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence for increasing numbers of drugs in antiretroviral combination therapy
Rachel Jordan, Lisa Gold, Carole Cummins, and Chris Hyde
BMJ 2002 324: 757. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Lipodystrophy: exercise as a therapeutic intervention
Rita Doerner
bmj.com, 14 Feb 2003 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ