Understanding the Link Between HIV and Heart Disease

By Alicia Banks, Duke Global Health Institute

As Gerald S. Bloomfield, M.D., saw heart patients in Kenya over the past decade, he knew that cardiovascular disease was on the rise in the country. But he also noticed another trend. Many of the patients who came in with heart issues also had HIV.

“We scratched our heads and asked, ‘Is there something to this?,’” recalls Bloomfield, a Duke associate professor of medicine and global health who works in Kenya through AMPATH, a network of academic institutions partnering with Kenyan health centers. “No one knew we were sitting on a time bomb of heart disease.”

Bloomfield wasn’t alone in seeing the correlation. An emerging area of research is showing that people living with HIV may have twice the risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke. While the exact reasons for the link are not yet clear, the findings are leading doctors to think differently about how to manage heart health in an aging population of people living with HIV.

Read the full profile here.