HIV patients are at a significantly higher risk of suffering from heart and blood vessel diseases as compared to those without the infection according to a new scientific statement. In the statement published in the Circulation journal the researchers indicated that the heart disease risk among HIV patients occurs due to interactions between traditional risk factors such as diet lifestyle and tobacco use; and HIV-specific risk factors such as a chronically activated immune system and inflammation characteristic of chronic HIV. Considerable gaps exist in our knowledge about HIV-associated diseases of the heart and blood vessels in part because HIV's transition
