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Are people infected with HIV more prone to brain aneurysms? Yes, according to a new study. Update on this discovery with Dr. Jean-Paul Viard, specialist in infectious and tropical pathologies.
Thanks to advances in research, people with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) live better and better. The case of a cure was even the subject of a publication in the journal Nature Medicine, earlier this year.
However, the acceleration of vascular diseases is increasingly worrying. People with HIV seem to be particularly prone to brain aneurysms.
Several risk factors have been identified
If few studies exist on the cardiovascular risk factors of people infected with HIV, researchers wanted to take the opposite view. They thus evaluated the evolution of cerebral aneurysms in a panel of patients.
To do this, they reviewed the medical records of adults hospitalized at a US medical center. All had a history of HIV and had suffered, at least, from a cerebral aneurysm.
Result ? A total of 82 brain aneurysms were identified in 50 patients, the majority of whom were female. Some of them developed new brain aneurysms over time.
However, scientists have identified various possible risk factors that contribute to the formation ofaneurysms.
“Based on our longitudinal data, there may be a relationship between low T-cell (CD4) count, higher viral load, inconsistent or non-existent use of antiretrovirals, and aneurysm growth.”admits the PR Cervantes, author of the study and neurologist.
Further studies need to be done
Faced with these results, the scientists hammer home: it is necessary to know these risks (bleeding in the brain, etc.) and to identify them upstream.
“It is important to recognize that adults living with HIV, and especially those with weaker immune systems, are at higher risk for aneurysm development“, admits first author Emily White, MD, neurology resident at BMC.
For his part, Professor Jean-Paul Viard, who specializes in infectious and tropical pathologies, sees nothing “very upsetting“.
“Descriptions have been made, but no notion of relative risk to my knowledge“.
We will therefore have to wait for other studies to characterize more precisely the association between HIV and the formation of cerebral aneurysms.