An analysis of 1,288 patient records from men in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study has shown that cumulative treatment with Epivir and Zerit, not the use of protease inhibitors or nonnukes, is linked with increased risk of insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. The study, reported in the September 2 edition of the journal AIDS, found that the ratio of insulin-to-glucose levels dropped significantly only among men taking Epivir and Zerit and that men who had been taking those drugs longer were the most likely to develop insulin resistance. The nucleoside analogs Videx and Retrovir were not linked to altered insulin ratios, according to researchers.
The report concurred with a previous study of U.S. women that ruled out a link between protease inhibitors and insulin resistance. HIV Plus reported in October that a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that HIV-positive men on antiretroviral therapy have 4.6 times the risk of developing diabetes than those not receiving drug treatment.
