Lipid profile of drug naive HIV patients in a tertiary health facility in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Aim: To determine the effect of HIV syndrome on lipid profile in a cohort of Nigerians.
Objective: To determine the concentrations of total cholesterol (Tchol), triglyceride (TGL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and low density lipoprotein (LDL) in HIV positive drug naive patients as against HIV negative people.
Methods: This study examined the lipid profiles of 50 HIV positive individuals (test group), and 50 HIV negative individuals (control group) at the Human Virology Laboratory of Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Lagos, Nigeria. Informed consent was obtained and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of NIMR approved the study. A questionnaire based assessment was provided for the individuals to complete, before 5 ml of blood was taken by venopuncture. Blood collected in plain tubes was centrifuged at 3500 rpm for 10 minutes and the serum obtained, used for the various lipid profile tests mentioned above.
Statistical analysis on data from the questionnaire was done using Epi info 2000 (CDC).
Results: The median lipid profile values for the control group were 168, 85, 99 and 58 mg/dl for Tchol, TGL, HDL and LDL respectively. Conversely, median lipid profile values for the HIV positive patients were 145, 98, 53, and 67 mg/dl for Tchol, TGL, HDL and LDL respectively. P values greater than 0.05 were taken to indicate an insignificant difference between the lipid profiles of the two groups.
Conclusion: Based on results obtained, there were significant differences in the Tchol and HDL values between the two groups, indicating a possible effect of HIV on lipid profile for drug naive patients.

Key words: lipid profile, HIV, TGL, HDL, LDL, Tchol.