Do dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and body shape changes differ according to race/ethnicity?
Data presented by Carl Grunfeld of UCSF from the CPCRA FIRST study extend existing data on the effects of race/ethnicity on metabolic and body composition variables in subjects initiating ART. This was a large (400 subjects) multi-ethnic (61% African-American, 28% white, 11% Latino) cohort that is noteworthy because it examined changes over time in these parameters. Only 22% of subjects were women however, including only 8 Latinas and 3 whites, which severely limits the study’s ability to address any race-gender interaction. It is well-established that lipid levels in the general population differ across racial ethnic groups, and similar findings have been published in HIV-infected subjects on ART from cross-sectional studies (PLoS Medicine 2006). Latinos tended to have the most adverse changes in lipid levels, while African-Americans had the least – in spite of the fact that African-Americans were more likely to receive a ritonavir-boosted PI. Fasting glucose levels and insulin resist
