Evolving approaches and resources for clinical practice in the management of HIV infection in the HAART era

Physicians treating HIV infection concentrate not only on the viral management but they also have to take into account the potential age and lifestyle-related conditions likely to influence long-term morbidity, correlated with patients' survival. Hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular, bone, kidney and liver disease, better than opportunistic infection, depict the changing spectrum of HIV disease in the HAART era. These conditions, the so called non infectious co-morbidities, are age-related diseases affecting the general population. However, their prevalence in HIV-infected individuals is higher, with earlier onset, probably as a result of the complex inter-relationship between HIV infection, co-infection and antiretroviral therapy. Regular screening for non infectious co-morbidities helps identify those asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals who are most at risk of developing comorbidities; this means that appropriate intervention, either by lifestyle changes to reduce modifiable risk factors or by the use of pharmacological management, can be initiated. © GERMS 2011

Geriatric-HIV medicine: A science in its infancy

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Urolithiasis associated with atazanavir may mask a metabolic 'channelling' bias.

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Predictors of weight loss and maintenance in patients treated with antiobesity drugs

Federica Guaraldi1, Uberto Pagotto2, Renato Pasquali21Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2Division of Endocrinology, Department of Clinical Medicine, S Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Alma Mater Studiorum University, Bologna, ItalyBackground: The prevalence of obesity and related diseases has increased enormously in the last few decades, becoming a very important medical and social issue. Because of the increasing number of people who need weight loss therapies and the high costs associated with these, the search for reliable predictors of success for weight loss and weight maintenance treatments has become a priority.Objective: A literature review was undertaken to identify possible predictors of outcome of weight loss and weight maintenance in patients treated with antiobesity drugs.Results: For the majority of variables, published data are not sufficient to define their role on final outcomes. Among all considered factors, only early response to treatment appeared to be a reliable positive predictor, and diabetes a negative predictor of weight loss and maintenance.Conclusion: To date, no definitive results have been obtained. Due to the great benefits of reliable predictors of outcome associated to currently available antiobesity drugs and those under development, identifying these predictors has to be supported and encouraged.Keywords: obesity, weight loss predictors, pharmacological treatmen

Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus

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