Long-term intra- and inter-individual biological variation of serum lipid of HIV-infected and uninfected men participating in the Los Angeles Multi-Center AIDS Cohort Study (MACS)

BACKGROUND: To assess the long-term biological coefficient of variation within individuals (CV(I)) and between individuals (CV(G)), effect of aging and cholesterol lowering drugs on blood levels of lipids in HIV-1-infected and -uninfected men. METHODS: Bloods were analyzed every six months over 17 years for total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in 140 HIV-uninfected (38–66 years old) and 90 HIV-treated infected (48–64 years old) white Caucasian men to examine CV(I), CV(G), and the effect of cholesterol lowering drugs (CLDs) on lipid levels, and estimated changes per year of biomarkers. RESULTS: With exception of HDL-C, the long term CV(I) compared with CV(G) were higher for serum levels of TC, TGs, and LDL-C in both HIV-1 infected and uninfected men not taking CLDs. Excluding results of TGs in HIV positive men, the CV(I) compared with CV(G) were lower for serum levels of TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C in both groups not taking CLDs. There were significant (p < 0.05) differences in the median serum values of lipid biomarkers among 77 HIV negative men taking and 63 not taking CLDs. Also, with exception of HDL, there were significant (p < 0.05) differences in the median values of TC, TGs and LDL-C among 28 HIV positive men taking or not taking CLDs. CONCLUSION: Long term CV(I) and CV(G) of biomarkers will be useful for monitoring antiviral therapy side effects on lipid profiles in HIV-infected men. CV(I) of HIV-infected men for TC, TGs, HDL, LDL were higher significantly than CV(I) of HIV-uninfected men. Interestingly the long term CV(I) were higher than CV(G) for the men, who were on CLDs compared to men not on CLDs. The long-term pattern of CV(I) and CV(G) of lipid markers in both HIV-infected and uninfected men on CLDs differed from their short-term pattern.