Assessment and modification of cardiovascular disease risk in the HIV-infected individual

HIV-infected patients are living decades longer than before owing to combination antiretroviral therapy. However, complications are emerging in this population at rates higher than the general population, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). HIV-infected patients have many traditional risk factors that account for a significant part of their increased risk of CVD. However, HIV factors, including complications from antiretroviral therapy and increased inflammation associated with chronic HIV infection, also play a role. Clinicians need to be ever-vigilant to calculate and help attenuate any modifiable CVD risk factors for each HIV-infected individual.