People with HIV who have unexplained shortness of breath should be screened for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Olivier Sitbon, MD, of the Hôpital Antoine Beclere in Clamart, France, and his colleagues screened 7,648 people with HIV for shortness of breath (dyspnea), a symptom of PAH—a relatively rare but serious condition that can lead to heart failure. They identified 739 people with dyspnea, of whom 277 were eligible and willing to participate in the study.
Thirty of the 277 people had already been diagnosed with PAH before study entry. Researchers conducted echocardiography on the remaining 247 who had unexplained dyspnea. They found five further cases of PAH. Though the rate of PAH does not seem to be increasing among people with HIV, the researchers do recommend that anyone with unexplained shortness of breath should be screened for PAH.
