Prevalence of dyslipidemia in treatment naïve HIV-infected patients attending a Faith -Based Hospital, Jos Plateau State, Nigeria, 2019

Abstract

Introduction: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) use has greatly reduced the morbidity and mortality that are associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. Dyslipidemia which contributes to cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been reported to be the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in HIV-infected individuals. We estimated the prevalence of dyslipidemia in antiretroviral therapy (ART) naïve people, as well as the risk factors for dyslipidemia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 350 treatment naïve HIV patients at Faith Alive Foundation Hospital from November 2018 to July 2019. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, medical histories, alcohol intake and drug use. Blood samples from clients were taken to determine lipid levels. The High levels of serum LDL, serum total cholesterol, serum triglyceride and low level of serum HDL were calculated, and we examined the relationship between dyslipidemia and sociodemographic characteristics using Chi-Square and logistic regression at a 5% level of significance

Results: The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia in the study population was 78.6%. High cholesterol was 0.3%, high triglyceride 62.0%, high low-density lipoprotein 0.3% and low high-density lipoprotein was 29.5% (men) and 46.9% (women). Hypertriglyceridemia was the major lipid abnormality followed by derangement in the lipoproteins. A low level of high-density lipoprotein was seen in 111 (31.7%) patients and a normal level was seen in 239 (68.3) patients with mean standard deviation (±SD) of 1.10 ±0.51 mmol/L. Out of the 217 clients that had a high level of TG triglyceride (TG), 35 (16.1%) had cluster of differentiation (CD4)+ cells <200 cells/µL, whereas those that had low High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol HDL-C (111), 41 (30.8%) of them had less than 200 cells/µL CD4+ cell count. The use of an antihypertensive drug (p=0.081), Age (p=0.69), gender (p=0.51), alcohol consumption (p=0.54), smoking (p=0.64) and Body mass index (BMI) all had no significant association with dyslipidemia.

Conclusion: The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia was high in the study subjects. Before starting ART, HIV-positive individuals should be routinely examined for lipid abnormalities, and those who are found to have dyslipidemia should be promptly referred to attending physicians for appropriate treatment.