Body habitus alterations in HIV-Infected women treated with combined antiretroviral therapy

Fat distribution alterations are among the most frequent and unexpected sid e effects of combined antiretroviral therapy. They may occur in patients re ceiving protease inhibitor-containing regimens and those treated with combi nations of only nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. The broad spec trum of body fat alterations, which are variably associated with metabolic abnormalities, raises the question as to whether they represent different c omponents of the same syndrome or are manifestations of different pathogene tic mechanisms. Recent clinical evidence is consistent with a higher risk o f developing body fat alterations in females. We here report three differen t aspects of body habitus changes in women treated with various antiretrovi ral regimens and describe their short-term follow-up. We also discuss the p ossible pathogenetic implications and the role of different drug classes ac cording to present knowledge.