Dysglycaemia and Dyslipidaemia Among Subjects Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

Abstract

Another dimension to the global challenge of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the increasing prevalence of metabolic abnormalities such as diabetes mellitus and dyslipidaemia. The current challenge in managing people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) includes the identification and monitoring of comorbid health risks associated with HIV and its treatment. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 HIV positive subjects (100 newly diagnosed patients and 100 on Highly Active Anti- Retroviral Therapy (HAART) attending the outpatient clinic dedicated to People Living with HIV (PLWH) at the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria and 100 HIV negative individuals were monitored as controls. A structured questionnaire was administered to collect relevant medical and socio-demographic information. A multistage random technique was employed in recruiting subjects for the study. Serum glucose, total cholesterol and triglyceride were determined using spectrophotometry techniques. High Density Lipoprotein cholesterol was assayed by precipitation method while Low Density Lipoprotein cholesterol was calculated using Friedewald equation. Data were analyzed using Student t-test, Chi square test, analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficient. Serum glucose (5.39 + 2.42 vs 4.52 + 0.96 vs 3.65 + 0.67, , total cholesterol (4.11 + 0.84 vs 3.65 + 1.07 vs 3.42 + 0.61) and LDL (2.88 + 0.84 vs 2.51+1.05 vs 1.944 + 0.68) were significantly higher among HIV positive subjects on HAART than HIV positive HAART naive and HIV negative controls (p<0.001). Conversely, HDL (0.85 + 0.20 vs 0.89 + 0.19 vs 1.22 + 0.25) were significantly lower among HIV positive subjects on HAART than HIV positive HAART naive and HIV negative controls. The management of metabolic disorders related to HIV infection is complex. Nevertheless, results from this study suggest that metabolic clinics will be beneficial to PLWH and should be an important part of HIV services especially now that all identified PLWH are linked to treatment as early as possible.