Research

Hormonal

Use of specific antiretroviral medications, particularly lopinavir/ritonavir and didanosine (ddI), significantly increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome in HIV-infected adults, independent of general inflammation markers.

If you are HIV-positive, your medication choice matters for your metabolic health. Drugs like Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) and didanosine are linked to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome. Discuss lipid management and body composition with your provider, but do not stop your medication without medical advice, as uncontrolled viral load is also a major risk factor.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The risk was 2 times higher in those using lopinavir/ritonavir or ddI... Even after adjusting for BMI, the risk was 2-fold higher among those who gained more than 2 kg over the previous 6 months, and the risk increased from 2.3-fold to 4.9-fold with increasing quartile of trunk fat relative to limb fat.
Denise L. Jacobson et al. · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · 2006

Why this rating

Longitudinal cohort study with multivariate adjustment for confounders, though observational nature prevents causal certainty.

Source

Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome in a Cohort of HIV-Infected Adults and Prevalence Relative to the US Population (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey)

Denise L. Jacobson et al. · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · 2006

DOI 10.1097/01.qai.0000243093.34652.41

cohort · n=477Cited 186×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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