Current Events in ID 8/24/23
In the ID news, making note of the NJEM headliner August 24, 2023, Pitavastatin to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease in HIV Infection, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2304146 Should we consider statins routinely in HIV+ individuals with low-to-moderate risk for cardiovascular disease on a traditional disease calculator? REPRIEVE suggests that we should. This phase 3 Randomized trial to prevent vascular events in HIV used the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology Pooled Cohort Equation risk calculator and specific thresholds for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol to identify patients at-risk for cardiovascular disease. Consider that HIV+ individuals have 2x the risk for cardiovascular disease compared to those without HIV, a risk that is not eliminated by successful antiretroviral therapy (ARV) and viral suppression. The statin used was pitavastatin at 4 mg, chosen to avoid drug-drug interactions with key ARV. The patient population included