Women More Susceptible To Drug-Induced Dyslipidemia.(antiviral drug side effects in HIV therapy)

2001 JUN 28 - (NewsRx Network) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Female HIV patients display much more pronounced metabolic disturbances than men after initiation of antiretroviral therapy, researchers in Austria say.

"Because female sex protects against dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis in normal subjects, we aimed to reveal potential sex differences in metabolic side effects of a newly initiated highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen," explained P. Quehenberger and colleagues at the University of Vienna.

Female patients' natural defenses against abnormally high lipid levels do not protect them from HAART-induced dyslipidemia and other metabolic alterations, Quehenberger and coworkers found.

Serum levels of leptin, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides were elevated to a greater degree in female than in male patients after starting HAART for the first time, they said. Women, unlike men, displayed increased ratios of LDL to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and elevated fasting insulin levels after HAART initiation.

However, male patients had lower levels of endothelial cell activation than women during antiretroviral treatment. This meant that women's natural advantages - better LDL-to-HDL cholesterol ratios and less endothelial cell activation - were erased by HAART, while they ...