Alcohol more problematic for HIV-positive patients, study finds

A study associated with Yale University in New Haven, Conn., found that HIV patients experience more adverse effects from alcohol consumption than uninfected individuals, according to a piece from the Yale Daily News.

Researchers examined data compiled by a questionnaire regarding one's frequency of alcohol consumption. The results showed that individuals undergoing treatment for HIV experienced higher rates of mortality and physiological damage than the uninfected survey participants.

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Previous studies on the increased risk of adverse alcohol-related effects in HIV patients concluded that alcohol's interruption of the HIV care continuum could be linked to the risk increase. In this study, researchers were able to show that even patients taking their medication incurred a higher rate of harm from alcohol consumption.

Study co-author Amy Justice, MD, PhD, and former professor at the Yale School of Medicine, suggested that future research could illuminate the potential direct physiological reasons for the increase in alcohol-related harm in HIV patients.

"Even though people with HIV now are...very functional and medications are very effective, they still have a chronic disease that is taking a toll physiologically," said Dr. Justice in the Yale Daily News.

Dr. Justice went on to suggest that recommended limits on alcohol consumption should be lowered for those infected with HIV.

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