Coronary Aging in HIV‐Infected Patients

To the Editor—We read with interest the report by Guaraldi et al [1] on coronary aging among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. It has been hypothesized that the increased rates of several non-AIDS-defining conditions, including cardiovascular disease, may be attributable in part to accelerated aging in this population. We recently performed a cross-sectional study among HIV-infected adults to evaluate the prevalence of and factors associated with subclinical coronary atherosclerosis as detected by computed tomography (CT) for coronary artery calcium (CAC). Patients also underwent CT for detection of fatty liver disease [2]. Results of this original study were re-evaluated for coronary age on the basis of published sexand race-specific polynomial equations [3], and differences between the chronologic and coronary age were computed. Logistic regression models were performed for factors associated with increased, compared with expected or decreased, coronary aging. In addition, linear regression models were used to examine factors associated with the degree of coronary aging among those with CAC (Stata software, version 10; Stata).