Medication Use Increases Diabetes Risks

Antiretroviral drug therapy significantly boosts diabetes risks among HIV-positive men, increasing their odds of developing the chronic disease by more than four times over that faced by HIV-negative men, researchers report in the May 23 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine. An analysis of data from 1,278 HIV-positive men participating in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study has shown that 14% had developed diabetes; only 5% of 711 HIV-negative men in a control group did. New diabetes diagnoses also were more common during an average 2.3-year follow-up among HIV-positive men on antiretroviral therapy than in their HIV-negative peers. After adjustments for age and body mass index'both of which have been linked with diabetes risk'the researchers concluded that HIV-positive men taking antiretroviral drugs have a 4.6-fold greater risk of developing diabetes.