Lipid profiles of Thai adult HIV-infected patients receiving protease inhibitors.

Dyslipidemia is a common metabolic complication among HIV-infected patients who receive protease inhibitor (PI)-based antiretroviral therapy (ART). In order to assess the prevalence of lipid abnormalities and related factors, a cross-sectional analytic study of the lipid profiles of 170 Thai adult HIV-infected patients receiving PI-containing HAART who attended the HIV-clinic, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand between January and August 2005 was conducted. Studied subjects had a median age of 40 years with a median duration of taking PIs of 22.1 months. The mean serum total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and triglyceride (TG) levels were 259.7, 43.7, 135.2, and 506.8 mg/dl, respectively, and the mean TC:HDL-c ratio = 6.4. According to the US National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) guidelines, high TC, low HDL-c, high TC:HDL-c ratio, high LDL-c, and high TG were found in 52.4, 36.5, 18.8, 44.1, and 42.9%, respectively. Seventy-five subjects (44.1%) were taking lipid-lowering drugs. Only 54 subjects (31.8%) had baseline serum lipid profiles tested before beginning PI. There was statistically significant association between group of PI with serum TC and TG. Subjects taking double boosted and single boosted PI had significantly higher serum TC and TG levels than unboosted PI. Males had significantly higher serum TG levels, while females had significantly higher serum HDL-c levels. Age was significantly associated with serum TC, LDL-c levels, and TC:HDL-c ratios. Serum TC and LDL-c levels were also significantly higher in subjects taking efavirenz.