Age, HIV drugs and heart disease

HIV drugs are very safe, including for your heart. However, a few HIV meds are not recommended if you have a high risk of heart complications.

The biggest risks for heart disease are cigarettes, having a poor diet and not being physically active. Not being on ART is also a risk.

HIV drugs linked to heart disease are abacavir, maraviroc and darunavir. Also, some older drugs that are now rarely used (ddI, fosamprenavir/r, lopinavir/r and saquinavir/r).

Your HIV doctor should check your risk of heart disease online when you are diagnosed, before ART and then every year.

BHIVA recommend several online risk calculators:

• chip.dk
• qrisk.org
• QDiabetes

The QDiabetes calculator also looks at risk for type-2 diabetes.

Please note that these calculators only offer binary options of being a man or a woman. This US study highlights how these calculators might be less accurate for trans people. It also highlight the importance of more research.

This i-Base guide includes detailed info on heart disease and diabetes:
HIV and your quality of life: a guide to side effects and long term health

It also covers long-term health issues related to ageing well with HIV.

This link includes info on every HIV drug:

Information on individual ARVs

Smoking

NHS Better Health: quit smoking apps and tips

As with HIV negative people, lifestyle changes to reduce your risk of heart disease is good advice if you are HIV positive.

The mind is very complex. I think the child in me had wished this nasty thing away for so long – acknowledging yet not acknowledging.

— Faith, Luton

Last updated: 1 November 2024.