Abstract
Background: Previous reports showed lack of consensus on the possible etiology of coronary artery disease (CAD) between
HIV-treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and HIV-infection in particular. The aim of this
study was to find out correlations of HIV-treatment and HIV-infection with CAD risk.
Method: One hundred and twenty (120) participants involving HIV-patients on treatment (n = 40), treatment-naïve (n =
40) and equal number of age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled. The total cholesterol, triglycerides and lipoprotein
(HDL-C) were analyzed using spectrophotometry. The LDL-C was calculated using Friedewald equation, TC/HDL-C and
LDL-C/HDL-C ratios were also calculated. The CD4+ cell count was determined using flow cytometry.
Result: The mean plasma total cholesterol levels in patients’ groups on treatment and treatment-naïve were significantly
reduced when compared with controls, but the mean triglyceride levels for both treatment and the treatment-naïve groups
were significantly increased when compared with controls. However, HDL-C and LDL-C values for patients on HAART
and the treatment-naive were significantly reduced when compared with controls respectively. The CAD risk predictors,
LDL-c and TC/HDL-C ratio, were significantly increased in patients on HAART when compared with the treatment-naive.
The mean CD4+ cell count in treatment-naive was significantly lowered against both groups for treatment and controls.
Conclusion: In this present study, abnormal lipid profile was associated with both HIV-infection and HAART-treatment.
However, TC/HDL-C ratio, the strong predictor of CAD events in metabolic disorder was markedly high in HAARTtreatment
and the associated difference may threaten higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) during treatment.