Objective: To determine treatment outcome and regimens among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients receiving protease inhibitors treated with lipid-lowering drugs.
Material and Method: This retrospective, descriptive study was conducted in HIV-infected outpatients who were receiving protease inhibitors treated with lipid-lowering drugs at Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute during January 1st, 2014 to December 31st, 2014.
Results: Of 121 patients identified, the mean age was 46.7±8.9 years. Sixty-two point eight percent received statins alone of which the most commonly prescribed regimens were atorvastatin 20 mg/day (20.7%) and atorvastatinfenofibrate combination (16.5%). One year after treatment, the patients’ mean CD4+ count was 621.6 cell/mm3 and about 98.3% of patients had HIV-1 viral load ≤20 copies/mL. However, the eighty-six of patients (71.1%) still had dyslipidemia; the mean values for total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides were 230.5, 150.0, 52.6 and 283.3 mg/dL, respectively. There were no reported adverse drug events.
Conclusion: HIV-infected patients receiving protease inhibitors treated with lipid-lowering drugs had virologically suppressed outcomes for at least 1 year but these regimens could not improve lipid values to achieve the therapeutic targets in the treatment of dyslipidemia.