This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Elevated lipids increased risk for acute MI in HCV viremic patients
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
BOSTON — Patients with hepatitis C virus who were antibody positive and had higher lipid levels were at increased risk for acute myocardial infarction, according to research from the 2014 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
Researchers examined a cohort of HCV infected male veterans, all HCV treatment naive, to determine the risk for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at various lipid levels based on detectable and undetectable HCV RNA. Lipid classifications followed the National Cholesterol Education Profile, and HCV RNA positive (n=5,979) and HCV RNA negative patients (n=167) were compared. Cox regression analysis determined AMI risk.
After adjusting for age, race and BMI, the HCV RNA positive patients had increasing risk for AMI with progressively elevated lipid levels. The highest classifications for total cholesterol (>240 mg/dL; HR=1.22; 95% CI, 1.06-1.4), LDL cholesterol (≥190 mg/dL; HR=1.64; 95% CI, 1.3-2.07) and triglycerides (≥500 mg/dL; HR=1.43; 95% CI, 0.96-2.13) placed those patients at the greatest risk for AMI. HCV RNA negative patients showed no statistically significant associations with AMI risk regardless of lipid level.
“The effect of lipid-lowering therapy and viral eradication through HCV therapy upon the risk of future AMI needs further study,” the investigators concluded.
For more information:
Butt AA. Abstract #685. Presented at 2014 CROI; March 3-6, 2014; Boston.
Disclosure: Adeel A. Butt reports no relevant financial disclosures.