Lipd Metabolism Abnormalities in Children and Adolescents with HIV/AIDS Treated with Protease Inhibitors

In this paper we propose to evaluate the lipid metabolism abnormalities in children and adolescents with HIV/AIDS undergoing treatment with protease inhibitors (PIs). There are over 1000 children and adolescents with HIV infection of various stages registered in the Pediatric Department of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Prof. Dr. Matei Bals. We have carried out a retrospective study on 200 HIV seropositive children without previous lipid metabolism abnormalities in which antiretroviral treatment was initiated. In these patients we have monitored modifications in lipid metabolism secondary to antiretroviral treatment (triglycerides, cholesterol, and lipids). The majorities of abnormalities of the lipid metabolism were not severe and did not require modification or cessation of treatment. 24 months of treatment later, approximately 23.5% of patients treated with 2 NRTI+PI/r had modifications of the lipid metabolism: 34.6% had hypercholesterolemia, 38.4% had hypertriglyceridemia, and 36.9% had an increase of total serum lipids. Lipid metabolism abnormalities have been more significant in patients treated previously with antiretrovirals, especially those who have received PIs, in comparison to naive patients.