Diabetes and HIV: What Do We Know?

Context The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has become one of the biggest pandemics since 1981. According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), in 2018, 38 million people worldwide were living with HIV. In parallel to this scenario, the prevalence and mortality of diabetes have increased in recent decades. Thus, it would be pertinent to know if the risk factors for the development of diabetes mellitus to which people with HIV/AIDS are exposed are the same as those of the non-infected population. According to autopsy studies conducted at the Sao Paulo Death Verification Service, University of Sao Paulo, HIV-infected patients in the pre-HAART era (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) presented histological changes in the exocrine pancreas, although in the endocrine pancreas these were not significant. In the post-HAART era, the exocrine pancreas continued to present histological changes, but in this population, they also occurred in the endocrine pancreas and were particularly important in the islets of Langerhans. Objective We seek to address the relationship between the use of HAART for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and the possible impacts on the pancreas. Methods Horizontal review by the Prisma method, bibliographic search in PubMed and Google Scholar. Results Was observed an association between the development of diabetes mellitus and the use of HAART, mainly with the oldest protease inhibitors from 1997-2004. Conclusion Although diabetes mellitus is a multifactorial pathology, antiretrovirals have played an important role in increasing the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the population undergoing HIV/AIDS treatment.