HIV/AIDS Women's Health: Oral Lesions in HIV-Positive Women Reduced in HAART Therapy

Recent research reveals that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) helps prevent the development of Candida-induced oral lesions in female HIV patients. D. Greenspan and coauthors at the University of California-San Francisco "investigated such changes among 503 HIV+ women over 6 years in the Women's Interagency HIV Study," they wrote. "The incidence of erythematous candidiasis (EC), pseudomembranous candidiasis (PC), hairy leukoplakia (HL), and warts was computed over follow-up visits after HAART initiation compared with before HAART initiation."

"Analysis of our data demonstrates a strong decrease in candidiasis after HAART initiation," the study said. "The incidence of EC fell to 2.99 percent from 5.48 percent (RR 0.545); PC fell to 2.85 percent from 6.70 percent (RR 0.425); and EC or PC fell to 3.43 percent from 7.35 percent (RR 0.466)."

"No changes were seen in HL or warts," Greenspan and colleagues wrote. "Higher HIV-RNA was associated with greater incidence of candidiasis and HL, but not warts."

"Analysis of these data indicates that recurrence and incidence of candidiasis are reduced by HAART, and that recurrence is reduced independently of CD4 and HIV-RNA," the scientists concluded.

The study, "Incidence of Oral Lesions in HIV-1-Infected Women: Reduction with HAART," was published in the Journal of Dental Research (2004;832(2):145-150).

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