OBESITY IN HIV PATIENTS

Volume 28, Issue 501 October 15, 2007

Historically, HIV and AIDS were associated with “wasting” syndrome, in which patients’ weight falls to dangerously low levels. New research is suggesting that now the opposite is happening: two-thirds of HIV patients are overweight or obese, according to new figures from the CDC reported by the Associated Press. Only 3 percent were considered underweight, while the remaining 34 percent were deemed to have normal weight, mirroring trends in the adult population as a whole. Researchers guess that ballooning waistlines come from poor eating habits and lack of exercise, which mirrors trends in the overall population. Others have guessed that sufferers may be overeating in an effort to avoid the historical trend in which AIDS patients “waste” away.

Obesity