If you've watched the documentary "The Widowmaker," you know the calcium artery score is a marker for risk of heart attack. A recent study, reported at an AIDS conference but not yet published, found more coronary artery calcium progression among HIV+ men on TRT than those who were not on TRT. A news article on the talk said:
Haberlen and colleagues analyzed 300 men with HIV aged 40 to 70 years from the CVD ancillary study of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, of whom 15% were ongoing users of testosterone therapy (use at baseline and follow-up scans), 7% were new users (use at follow-up scan but not baseline scan) and 8% were former users who had stopped by the time of the follow-up scan.
At a mean follow-up of 4.5 years, compared with former users, ongoing users (adjusted RR = 1.99; P < .05) and new users (aRR = 2.37) had elevated risk for CAC progression, Haberlen said.
For noncalcified plaque progression, risk in new users was higher than risk in former users (aRR = 2.16; P < .05), but the same was not true for risk in ongoing users (aRR = 1.52; P > .05), she said.
“Surprisingly, the never-use group also had an elevated risk for progression compared with the former-use group, though not statistically significant,” Haberlen said.
In addition, she said, there was a relationship between baseline low serum total testosterone (< 300 ng/dL) and CAC progression (aRR = 1.97; P < .001), but not between low testosterone and noncalcified plaque progression (aRR = 0.97; P = .93).
Haberlen and colleagues analyzed 300 men with HIV aged 40 to 70 years from the CVD ancillary study of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, of whom 15% were ongoing users of testosterone therapy (use at baseline and follow-up scans), 7% were new users (use at follow-up scan but not baseline scan) and 8% were former users who had stopped by the time of the follow-up scan.
At a mean follow-up of 4.5 years, compared with former users, ongoing users (adjusted RR = 1.99; P < .05) and new users (aRR = 2.37) had elevated risk for CAC progression, Haberlen said.
For noncalcified plaque progression, risk in new users was higher than risk in former users (aRR = 2.16; P < .05), but the same was not true for risk in ongoing users (aRR = 1.52; P > .05), she said.
“Surprisingly, the never-use group also had an elevated risk for progression compared with the former-use group, though not statistically significant,” Haberlen said.
In addition, she said, there was a relationship between baseline low serum total testosterone (< 300 ng/dL) and CAC progression (aRR = 1.97; P < .001), but not between low testosterone and noncalcified plaque progression (aRR = 0.97; P = .93).
