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The new phase of the WIHS study will look at the full range of therapeutic improvements and adverse side effects in women with HIV who are receiving treatment with HAART (highly-active antiretroviral therapy), the powerful, so-called “cocktail” drug treatment for HIV patients. Researchers at MMC will study the impact of HAART on: the slowing or absence of HIV disease progression; lower mortality; metabolic changes in fat redistribution that alter a body’s shape; and, on diabetes and serum cholesterol lipid abnormalities.
“HAART was developed in the mid-1990s and has been very successful in treating HIV patients,” said Kathryn M. Anastos, MD, principal investigator in the study, and an attending physician and associate professor of medicine at Montefiore.
“HAART, however, has also resulted in a myriad of new challenges such as unanticipated side effects, development of viral resistance to “cocktail” medications, considering pharmacogenetics as a determinant of an individual’s response to therapy, and co-infections,” she said. “It is these challenges that we will be studying more closely in the years ahead.”
Since its inception a decade ago, WIHS has enrolled 3,770 women nationally, including 775 in the New York City and Bronx/Manhattan consortium, the largest of six national sites and the one headed by Dr. Anastos, an international expert on AIDS in women and the author of over 50 peer-reviewed articles on the topic.
WIHS has studied a range of medical issues associated with women and AIDS including: the survival and disease progression in women with HIV infection, both before and after the availability of HAART; the interplay of gender and race with access to care and response to treatments; and, the contribution of HIV-related immune dysfunction or treatment on other medical conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Women represent more than 30 percent of all persons with HIV in the United States. “Approximately 77 percent of women with HIV are African-American or Latinas, most of whom live in urban areas, which is the focus of the WIHS study,” said Dr. Anastos.
Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is an internationally recognized leader in patient care, education, research and community services.
Located in New York City, Montefiore provides treatment programs for patients with all major illnesses and has distinguished centers of excellence in heart care, cancer care, children’s health, women’s health and surgery.
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