Human immunodeficiency virus-infected subjects have no altered myocardial perfusion

We assessed myocardial perfusion (blinded interpretation of a single-photon emission computed tomography) and known risk factors for atherosclerosis in 105 randomly selected human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients in a clinic in Mexico City and in a community sample of 105 age and gender-matched infection-free subjects. An abnormal scan was obtained in 4.8% of the infected and in 7.6% of the non-infected subjects. Severity of scintigraphic abnormalities was similar in both groups. In these Mexican HIV-infected patients, despite a long time of infection and of exposure to combined antiretroviral therapy and to other classical risk factors for atherosclerosis, there was no evidence of increased risk for abnormal myocardial perfusion. Dissimilar magnitude in the hazard of coronary heart disease may occur among infected populations with different frequencies of traditional predisposing factors for cardiovascular illness.