Profiling Lipids in People Living with HIV Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy at Mpilo Central Hospital OIC: Hitherto Going Forth?

Introduction: Long term use of antiretroviral therapy subpopulation living with HIV is associated with
disturbances in plasma lipids concentrations. Lipids profiles were not routinely used to monitor
treatment in the course of treatment resulting in adverse outcomes. Supportive information for the use
of lipid concentrations is necessary for the day to day monitoring of people living with HIV on
antiretroviral treatment. Evidence of the importance of lipid profiles in monitoring treatment was hoped
to influence end users to institute routine monitoring. To this end, the prevalence and timing of
dyslipidemia onset in people living with HIV/AIDS on ART Bulawayo, Zimbabwe were determined.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at Mpilo Central Hospital OIC in Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe over 3 months. A cross-sectional study was conducted in people living with HIV who were
on highly active anti-retroviral treatment at Mpilo Central Hospital OIC. Lipid assays were determined
by Elisa methods. Viral loads and CD4 were measured using the COBAS® TaqMan® and BD
FACSCount™ Flow Cytometer, respectively.
Results: A total of 149 accepting participants were enrolled with most (63.2%) being females. The
median age of the respondents was 43 years and their median CD4 count was 436 cells/μL after a
median duration on ART of 36 months. Viral load was <40 in the majority (68.6%) of the participants.
More females (63.1%) were on HAART and were aged >35 (60.4%) years. NNRTI (90.6%) were the
more commonly prescribed HAART. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was 70.2%.
Hypercholesterolaemia was detected in 72 (48.3%) patients with 26 being male and 46 being female.
High levels of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c ≥ 3.0 mmol/L) were found in 115 patients with 74 of them being
female. Hypertriacylglycerolaemia (TAG ≥ 2.0 mmol/L) was present in 8 cases. The proportion of
patients with a low HDL-cholesterol (HDL-c < 1.0 mmol/L) was 15.3% while those with a ratio of
TC/HDL-c ≥ 4.1 were 87.5%.
Conclusion: The study demonstrated a high prevalence of dyslipidemia in HIV-patients receiving
HAART. There is a need for the HIV program to institute laboratory monitoring of blood lipids in
patients over one year on HAART. In addition, testing and development of biomarkers of other novel
pathophysiological changes and HAART outcomes that may develop in the subpopulation in time, is
of paramount importance as adverse drug effects are still being experienced that may necessitate
regimen changes.