Brouillette J, et al. - In view of the observation that in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients, sudden cardiac death is the third leading cause of mortality and that 20% percent of HIV patients who died from sudden cardiac death had prior cardiac arrhythmias, including ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation and other unspecified rhythm disorders, researchers investigated HIV-related arrhythmias, associated risk factors specific to the HIV population and underlying mechanisms. In HIV patients, they noted several abnormalities in electrocardiograms (ECG) such as a longer corrected QT (QTc) interval, compared to the general population. This indicates that this population is at higher risk of developing severe arrhythmias such as torsades de pointes that can lead to sudden cardiac death. Non-antiretroviral therapy (ART) polypharmacy, electrolytes imbalances, and substances use observed in HIV-infected patients seemed explaining the mechanism, as many of these conditions are associated with alterations in cardiac electrical activity, increasing the risk of arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. However, the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias in HIV-infected patients, even in the absence of drugs indicates that HIV itself can profoundly change the electrophysiological properties of the heart and causes cardiac arrhythmias and related sudden cardiac death.