Diabetes Medication may Help HIV Patients

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A medication commonly used to treat diabetes may also have a role to play in the care of people who are HIV positive.

Researchers explain patients on long-term AIDS therapy -- known as HAART -- are increasingly developing a syndrome called lipodystrophy. Symptoms include insulin sensitivity, the redistribution of fat from the face, arms and legs to the abdomen and upper back, and cholesterol changes. About 14 percent of people on HAART eventually develop type 2 diabetes.

In a new study, researchers found the drug rosiglitazone (Avandia) improved insulin sensitivity in HIV-positive patients who received the treatment for three months. Patients had about a 20 percent improvement on a standard test to measure insulin sensitivity and also increased their total body fat, particularly the amount of fat on their face, arms and legs, which went up by 24 percent. By comparison, patients taking the placebo saw their face, arm and leg fat decrease by 2 percent.

However, researchers aren’t ready to recommend the drug for everyone yet, noting patients taking rosiglitazone also experienced higher cholesterol levels. “Larger and longer trials of this drug and related medications are needed to determine the best therapeutic approaches for individual patients,” says lead author Colleen Hadigan, M.D, M.P.H., from the Neuroendocrine Unit and Program in Nutritional Metabolism at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, 2004;140:786-794