Integrase inhibitor associated with an increased risk of heart attack

[Jim Allen]

Interesting read; hopefully, further study will confirm or challenge this.

In Full Aidsmap: https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jun-2022/integrase-inhibitors-raise-risk-heart-attack-stroke-during-first-two-years-treatment

In Short:

Treatment with an integrase inhibitor was associated with an increased risk of heart attack or stroke during the first two years of exposure to the drug class when compared to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs, a large study of people receiving treatment since 2012 has found.

The study, which assembled data on more than 29,000 people with HIV receiving treatment in Europe, Argentina and Australia, showed that the risk of a cardiovascular event – a heart attack, a stroke or a clinical intervention to relieve serious heart disease such as stenting or angioplasty – almost doubled in the first six months after starting a regimen containing an integrase inhibitor when compared to other regimens, after controlling for underlying cardiovascular risk factors such as high lipid levels and high blood pressure.

However, the increased risk was no longer evident after people had received more than two years of treatment with an integrase inhibitor.

The crude incidence rate observed in this study implies that approximately five extra cardiovascular events will occur for every 1000 people treated with an integrase inhibitor each year, or 500 events for every million people.