Lipid Profile and Cd4+ - T – Lymphocytes Counts in Naïve Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infected Pre – Menopausal Females.

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the serum lipid levels in naive HIVinfected pre – menopausal females and in the progression of HIV/AIDS. In a bid to determine lipid abnormalities or otherwise in naïve HIV – infected pre-menopausal females, 80 HIV- positive females aged between twenty to thirty five years at the PEPFAR, HIV clinic, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital(UNTH), Enugu and 80 apparently healthy non-HIV positive agematched female volunteers that served as the control group were studied. The medical Ethical Committee of the UNTH, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu, approved the study protocol and the patients’ informed consents were obtained prior to sample collection. The blood samples were collected using standard methods. HIV re-screening and confirmation were carried out using WHO HIV test algorithm. Automated method using Flow cytometry was used for the enumeration of CD4+ T Lymphocytes while lipid profile of the test subjects and the control group were carried out using standard methods. The results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. The data were analyzed using graph pad Instat version 3.01, Graph pad software, San Diego, California, USA. The test of significance was based on probability (p) values of < 0.05. Comparisons between groups were performed using One-way-ANOVA, Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test and student ttests depending on the number of variables. Serum total cholesterol, HDL and LDL levels of the patients were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the control groups and all decreased progressively with the progression of HIV/AIDS. However, triacylglylerols and VLDL levels were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the controls and all increased with the progression of HIV/AIDS.