Abacavir should be avoided by people who are in the high cardiovascular risk group.

Treatment side-effects have become of major interest with issues such as cardiovascular risk discussed. Dr David Nolan from the Centre for Clinical Immunology and Biomedical studies in Perth reminded people of the importance of diet and exercise for people with HIV in reducing the risks but also noted that the findings of the SMART Study showed treatment interruption was a major contributor to cardio-vascular and renal disease. It also showed that abacavir use within the last six months was associated with increased cardiovascular risk in those patients with risk factors.

Professor Martyn French from the University of WA discussed the DAD study presented at the Mexico IAS Conference in July and noted that half of those in the study had taken abacavir in the form of trizivir and that the increased cardiovascular risk may have something to do with the reduced viral suppression associated with this 3-NRTI combination drug. Abacavir should be avoided by people who are in the high cardiovascular risk group, he said.