Association of hypocholesterolaemia with hepatitis C virus infection in HIV‐infected people*

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Abstract
Objective: To study the impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) status on serum cholesterol levels in HIV‐infected patients.Methods: We retrospectively analysed data from the 881 participants of the Veterans Ageing Cohort 3 Site Study. Four different models were constructed using total cholesterol, low‐density lipid (LDL) cholesterol, high‐density lipid (HDL) cholesterol and triglycerides as dependent variables. The relevant covariates included HCV antibody status, HIV medication class, CD4 count, HIV viral load, glucose level, lipid‐lowering drug use, gender, race, age, liver function test results, ethanol use, drug use, and HIV exposure category. Variables excluded from the final model included niacin use, gender, race, age, current ethanol use, and HIV exposure category.Results: Of the 881 HIV‐positive patients enrolled in the study, 700 (79%) were screened for HCV antibody, with 300 (42.8%) HCV antibody positive and 400 (57.2%) HCV antibody negative. A positive HCV antibody status was independently associated with lower total cholesterol levels (P=0.001) and LDL cholesterol levels (Pin vitro and also because HCV–lipid interactions appear to be important in the HCV replication cycle.

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