DYSLIPIDAEMIA IN PATIENTS ON HIGHLY ACTIVE ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY AT AMINU KANO TEACHING HOSPITAL, KANO, NIGERIA

Abstract

Highly Active Antiretroviral therapy, an effective treatment for HIV/AIDS results in significant
reduction in viral load, increased CD4 cell count and improved quality of life of people living
with HIV/AIDS. HAART being a life-long treatment increases the propensity for manifesting
long term complications like dyslipidaemia. This cross sectional study set out to evaluate
dyslipidaemia in patients on HAART and recruited 360 participants: 120 HAART treated sub
grouped into group Ia (PI based treated) and group Ib (Non PI based), 120 HIV positive HAART
naïve (group II) and 120 healthy controls (group III). After a ten hour overnight fasting, blood
sample was collected for serum lipids measurement. The results were collated and analysed using
Graph Pad, Prism 3. There was a statistically significant (p<0.05) difference in the levels of
serum lipids between groups with levels of TC, TG, LDLc being lowest in group II. The
prevalence of dyslipidaemia was: high TC in group I (25%) > group III (17.5%) > group II
(7.5%): high TG in group I (30%) > group III (10%) > group II (7.5%): high LDLc in group I
(30%) > group II (17.5%) > group III (7.5%) and low HDLc in group II (40%) > group I (35%) >
group III (22.5%). PI based treatment and relatively longer duration (>1year) of treatment is
associated with a higher risk of dyslipidaemia. It was therefore concluded that HAART
(especially PI based) and long duration (>1year) of treatment is associated with a high risk of
dyslipidaemia and high Artherogenic risk in patients with HIV/AIDS.