Debunking the long-standing notion that protease inhibitors are a major culprit in the risk of developing diabetes, new data suggest that nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) use may be the cause. The latest study from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), published in the August 28 edition of AIDS and reported by AIDSmap, suggests that prolonged therapy involving Epivir (lamivudine) may result in a patient developing diabetes.
The study, which followed 2,088 women for five and a half years, determined that long-term use of NRTIs—specifically Epivir—by HIV-positive women was associated with the greatest risk of diabetes, compared to positive women not using NRTIs and HIV-negative women. Cumulative protease inhibitor and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) use was not found to be a diabetes risk factor.
AIDSmap notes that studies looking for links between HIV treatment and diabetes have intensified, given that diabetes is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The WIHS researchers, knowing that NRTIs can damage cellular mitochondria, suggest that they could be contributing to the development of diabetes.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
