Cerebral small vessel disease more common in PLHIV

           Cerebral small-vessel disease (CSVD) is a common problem with increasing age and accounts for approximately 20% of strokes and 45% of dementia. In addition to age, hypertension is a major risk factor for the development of CSVD.  CSVD is characterised by white matter hyperintensities, silent infarcts and microbleeds.

           This cross sectional study examined the prevalence of CSVD in PLHIV (who immunovirologically controlled for at least 2 months on cART), comparing them with age and sex matched controls. A 3T MRI scanner was used and the diagnosis of CSVD was made by 2 neuro-radiologists who were blinded to serostatus.

           After adjusting for known risk factors, the prevalence of CSVD was twice higher in middle aged PLHIV (aOR 2.3).

           This study adds to the continually growing list of conditions that are more common in PLHIV, even where they are immunovirologically controlled. This therefore leads us to the question of how we go about managing or mitigating this effect. I did some further reading around up-to-date guidelines on CSVD. It seems that aside from managing blood pressure, there is little evidence to support the routine use of other agents, including statins or anti-platelets. These studies however have been done primarily in HIV negative individuals. The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying (at least some of) CSVD in PLHIV may be different. Given the extensive interest in the anti-inflammatory effects of statins in HIV, one wonders whether there may be a role in managing CSVD.