United Press International - October 23, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has determined why episodic treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS with anti-retroviral drugs increases the overall risk of death.

James Neaton of the University of Minnesota and colleagues said it was known intermittent HIV/AIDS treatment was tied to inflammation and blood-clotting when compared with continuous antiretroviral treatment, or ART. But the reasons for that were unknown.

Neaton and colleagues have discovered higher levels of certain markers of inflammation and blood-clotting are strongly associated with intermittent ART and with a higher risk of death from non-AIDS diseases.

The scientists said they determined people who began the study with relatively higher levels of the biomarkers interleukin-6 and D-dimer were at greater risk of death than other study participants.

The new research appears in the journal PLoS Medicine.

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