High Tryglycerides And Cholesterol Levels Evidentiated In Children On Anti-HIV Therapy

High Tryglycerides And Cholesterol Levels Evidentiated In Children On Anti-HIV Therapy

According to a new research, the National Institutes Of Health informs that toddlers that are on anti-HIV therapy have raised triglycerides and cholesterol levels compared to normal children that are not HIV positive.

The researchers discovered that cholesterol levels are higher among toddlers that are treated with certain drug classes. The most evident effects could be observed in patients treated with protease inhibitors. The average cholesterol values for this group was 169 mg/dL, compared with only 152 mg/dl, average reading for toddlers that were treated with other antiretroviral drug classes, and 147 mg/dL for toddlers without HIV infection. On the other hand, infected children that were not benefiting from antiretroviral treatment were detected with rather low cholesterol levels around 122 mg/dL.  About 10,8 percent of children that were infected with HIV were detected with cholesterol values above 200 mg/dL (borderline to high risk for heart disease development).

The study was published in the journal AIDS.

These results are in accordance with previous studies that linked protease inhibitors use to high cholesterol levels in adults and older children. This particular study is the first of its kind that investigates the effects of antiviral therapy in children between 12 and 23 months of age.

It is very probable that these toddlers will be on antiviral therapy for a lifetime, and these results indicate that young children treated with certain antiviral medication classes such as protease inhibitors must be monitored on a regular basis in order to asses the cardiovascular risk.

For the study, researchers used the medical records of 764 children who were at risk of developing HIV infection (born from am infected mother – exposed in the womb with HIV). From the total of 764 children at risk, 83 were born with the infection. The toddlers were periodically examined, their viremia was evaluated as well as triglycerides and cholesterol levels. Fifty-nine percent of the infected children were on antiviral therapy at the time when the study was conducted. In 2010 the World Health Organization issued new guidelines recommending treatment options for HIV positive patients under the age of two.

Researchers compared cholesterol and triglycerides levels among the following patients groups:

1. Healthy children
2. HIV infected children that were not on antiviral therapy
3. HIV infected children on protease inhibitors
4. HIV infected children on other antiretroviral drugs.

The results, evidentiated that the cholesterol levels of HIV infected children that were not on any kind of antiviral therapy tended to be below the 50th percentile level of healthy peers. Cholesterol levels evidentiated in children that were on antiviral therapy was above the 50th percentile of healthy peers.  Among the children that were treated with protease inhibitors, the number of toddlers with cholesterol levels exceeding the 95th percentile was notable.

Children on protease inhibitors swoed a rise in triglyceride levels also – 211.0 mg/dL, compared to children that were on other antiviral drugs -106,8 mg/dL and those who did not benefit from any antiviral therapy – 139,4 mg/dL.