Thanks to good treatment, HIV patients are now facing a new problem: an increased risk of age-related diseases, according to NOS.

The finding comes from a PhD study by doctor Judith Schouten, reported on NPO Radio 1. It was conducted with fellow AMC doctor Katherine Kooij and the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development.

Previous studies have compared HIV patients to the general population, but Schouten suggested that the patients ‘smoke more, use more drugs and tend to have more risky behaviour’. So the research compared HIV patients with those who had been tested by the GGD sexually transmitted disease clinic in Amsterdam and ‘had apparently had a risk of HIV infection’.

Every two years, the participants had a series of tests and questionnaires, suggesting that the HIV group was more at risk of diseases of old age such as a doubled chance of cardiovascular problems. ‘People with HIV have an ongoing inflammatory reaction,’ Schouter told NOS broadcaster. ‘All patients had reduced defences. The greater the drop, the greater the risk of age-related diseases.’