Serum levels of lipoprotein(a) in HIV positive patients on HAART at Livingstone General Hospital, Livingstone, Southern Province, Zambia

Abstract

Title: Serum levels of Lipoprotein(a) in HIV positive patients on HAART at Livingstone General Hospital, Livingstone, Southern Province, Zambia. Background: Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is a highly atherogenic independent risk marker for Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and current studies have shown that Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) raises Lp(a) levels in HIV patients, thereby increasing their risk for CVD. In this study, Lp(a) distribution in HIV patients on HAART were determined as well as their risk category for CVD based on their Lp(a) concentrations. Methods: This cross sectional laboratory based study was conducted between December 2014 to February 2015 at Livingstone General Hospital where fasting serum samples were collected and sent to the University Teaching Hospital Biochemistry laboratory for analysis. The Demographic and clinical data from patient files used were age, gender, ART combination and duration on ART. For data analysis, STATA version 12.0 and SPSS version 17.0 were used. The Study sample comprised of 57 (39.9%) males and 86 (60.1%) females who had been on ART from one to ten years. Results: Lp(a) concentration mean was 0.86 μmol/L ± 0.45μmol/L. Prevalence of high Lp(a) was 31.5% of which 29.4% and 2.1% were in the high risk and very high risk for CVD categories respectively. There was a significant relationship between age (p=0.009), duration on HAART (p<0.001) and high Lp(a) levels. Conclusion: Since Lp(a) tended to be raised with increasing age (p=0.009) and longer duration on HAART (p <0.001), this implies that age & duration on HAART were risk factors for CVD and contributed significantly to high prevalence levels of high Lp(a) in HIV patients on HAART.