High blood pressure is no more common among HIV-positive women compared with HIV-negative women, according to a study in AIDS. The new data also suggest that antiretroviral treatment doesn’t increase the risk of hypertension, refuting other studies that found blood pressure increases in people taking HIV drug treatment.

Ann Khalsa, MD, director of clinical training at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and her colleagues from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) looked at blood pressure measurements in 1,266 HIV-positive women and 368 HIV-negative women. Blood pressure was assessed at study entry and then again roughly six years later. In their analysis, Dr. Khalsa’s team factored in known risk factors for high blood pressure such as age, race, body mass index and whether or not the women were current smokers, taking ARVs or taking anti-hypertension drugs.

At study entry, 19 percent of the HIV-positive women had high blood pressure compared to 20 percent of the HIV-negative women. Six years later, 18 percent of the HIV-positive women had high blood pressure, compared to 20 percent of the HIV-negative women. Only traditional risk factors were associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure in both groups of women, including older age, African-American race and having a high body mass index.