Cardiovascular risk and achievement of target levels in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in people living with HIV: insights from the DUALIS study.

OBJECTIVES

This post-hoc evaluation of the DUALIS study aimed to examine cardiovascular risk and the achievement of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets in a virologically suppressed cohort of people living with HIV in Germany.

METHODS

Baseline cardiovascular risk was assessed using the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)-Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation 2 (SCORE2)/SCORE2-Older Persons (OP) and the current ESC guideline-recommended LDL-C targets among participants aged ≥40 years in the DUALIS study. Risk categorization was based on the ESC-SCORE2/SCORE2-OP results and the presence of specific comorbidities indicative of high risk and very high risk of CVD. Participants were enrolled between July 2015 and June 2017.

RESULTS

The use of lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) was low in the DUALIS study, with 12 out of 188 participants (6%) receiving the treatment. The median ESC-SCORE2/SCORE2-OP was 5.0%. Overall, 92 participants (49%) had low-to-moderate CVD risk, 77 (41%) high risk, and 19 (10%) very high risk. Only one participant in the high-risk group and none in the very high-risk group met the guideline-recommended LDL-C targets. Even when using the less stringent LDL-C targets valid at the time of data collection (2016 ESC guideline), only 19.7% of the high-risk and none of the very high-risk participants met these targets. In addition, a strong correlation regarding the estimated CVD risk was observed between the D:A:D (R) and ESC SCORE2/SCORE2-OP scores (r = 0.95).

CONCLUSIONS

The achievement of guideline-recommended LDL-C targets was low in the high- and very high-CVD-risk groups in the DUALIS study, reflecting low utilization of LLT in clinical practice.