HIV, Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy and Lipoprotein Particle Concentrations in the Women's Interagency HIV Study

Changes in lipoprotein particle concentrations, especially greater small low-density lipoprotein particle (LDL-p) and lower small high-density lipoprotein particle (HDL-p) may provide information regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk above and beyond that which is provided by standard lipids. We quantified the association HIV and HAART use had with LDL-p and HDL-p.Cross-sectional study of 1077 individuals classified by HIV/HAART status (361 HIV-uninfected, 128 HIV-infected/HAART naive, 588 HIV-infected/on HAART) enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy estimated total and subclass lipoprotein particle concentrations. Quantile regression models were used to estimate differences in the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of the distributions of lipoprotein particle concentrations between the two HIV-infected exposure groups and HIV-uninfected controls after adjustment for demographic, nonlipid metabolic factors, and standard lipids.Compared with HIV-uninfected women, those on HAART had greater 75th and 90th percentiles of small LDL-p; there was little difference between HIV-infected/HAART naive and HIV-uninfected women. After adjustment for triglycerides, the association of HAART with greater 75th and 90th percentiles of small LDL-p was attenuated and no longer significant. In contrast, after adjustment for triglycerides, HIV infection irrespective of HAART status remained associated with significantly lower 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of small HDL-p.Our findings suggest that testing for LDL-p confers little additional information beyond triglycerides levels when assessing CVD risk. Further investigation is needed to examine the role of HDL-p in the link between HIV and CVD in women.