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Low Prevalence of Dyslipidemia Seen in Children on Nonnucleoside-Based Antiretroviral Therapy: Presented at CROI

By Ed Susman

DENVER, CO -- February 7, 2006 -- AIDS doctors working in hospitals in Thailand say there is a low prevalence of dyslipidemia in children infected with HIV who are receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

"After 2 years of treatment, there is a low prevalence [of dyslipidemia] -- less than 10% -- among children treated with nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy," said Thanyawee Puthnanakit, MD, professor of pediatrics, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.

Dr. Puthnanakit presented the findings in a poster on February 6^th at the 13^th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI).

His research team followed 116 pediatric patients and measured their levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol from the time they began taking HAART until 96 weeks later.

Prior to starting HAART, about 2% of the children had hypercholesterolemia; after 2 years of treatment 10% of the children had hypercholesterolemia.

Prior to treatment with the antiretroviral therapy, about 3% of the children had hypertriglyceridemia; after 2 years of treatment 4% of the children had hypertriglyceridemia.

Prior to treatment with the antiretroviral therapy, about 90% percent had low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels; after 2 years of treatment 10% of the children had low HDL levels.

The researchers also scrutinized the children's response to efavirenz or nevirapine-based treatment. "Children who received nevirapine had a more favorable lipid profile than the 1 who received efavirenz," Dr. Puthnanakit said

The researchers found that after 96 weeks, children taking nevirapine-based regimens had significantly higher HDL levels -- 58 mg/dL versus 50 mg/dL. That reached significance at the P = .01 level.

In addition, the children on nevirapine had a lower total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio -- 3.4 versus 3.8 -- which was also significant at the P = .04 level.

The report is part of a project looking at the effects of the HIV epidemic on Thai children, supported by the US National Institutes of Health and the Thai government's Pharmaceutical Organization.


[Presentation title: Prevalence of Dyslipidemia in HIV-Infected Children Receiving NNRTI-Based Antiretroviral Therapy. Abstract 688]

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