We also thank Jeanette Gullett and Tracy Krouse for technical assistance with tissue processing. We are grateful to Brian AZD6244 price Bowser, Michael Conway and Linda Cruse for critical reading of the manuscript and helpful suggestions. This study was supported by NIDCR grant DE018305 to Craig Meyers. “
“Among HIV-infected patients, hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection is associated with lower cholesterol levels, but it remains unclear how it affects cardiovascular outcomes. We performed logistic regression

to evaluate acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) events by HCV status among HIV-infected US veterans in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era (1996–2004). We then performed survival analyses to evaluate incident AMI and CVD, exploring antiretroviral therapy (ART) as a time-dependent variable. A total of 19 424 HIV-infected patients [31.6% of whom were HCV-coinfected (HIV/HCV)] contributed 76 376 patient-years of follow-up. HCV coinfection was associated with lower rates of hypercholesterolaemia

(18.0% in HIV/HCV vs. 30.7% in HIV-only patients; P<0.001), but higher rates of hypertension (43.8%vs. 35.6%; P<0.0001), type 2 diabetes mellitus (16.2%vs. 11.1%; P<0.0001) and smoking (36.7%vs. 24.7%; P=0.009). Rates of AMI and CVD were significantly higher among HIV/HCV than HIV-only patients: 4.19 vs. 3.36 events/1000 patient-years, respectively (P<0.001), for AMI; and 12.47 vs. 11.12 events/1000 patient-years, respectively (P<0.001), GSK458 nmr for CVD. When analyses were controlled for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, age and duration of ART, hazard ratios (HRs) among those with HIV/HCV (vs. HIV only)

were 1.25 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.98–1.61; P=0.072] for AMI and 1.20 (CI 1.04–1.38; P=0.013) for CVD. Hypertension (HR 2.05; P<0.001), many greater age (HR 1.79; P<0.001) and longer duration (cumulative years) of antiretroviral use (HR 1.12; P=0.0411) were also associated with increased risk of AMI in the adjusted model. In the HAART era, HCV coinfection was associated with a significantly increased risk of CVD and a trend towards an increased risk of AMI among HIV-infected patients. The increase in overall survival of HIV-infected patients has been associated with a shift in underlying cause of death, with decreased representation of AIDS-related causes and increased representation of non-AIDS-related deaths, which rose by 33% in one recent series [1]. The most prevalent non-AIDS-related causes of morbidity and mortality are chronic liver disease, metabolic complications including cardiovascular disease, and non-AIDS-defining malignancies [1–3]. It has been estimated that 15 to 30% of all HIV-infected persons are also infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) [4,5].