Lipid profile and comparison across age groups.

Children and adolescents who acquired HIV perinatally and are on lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) are at increased risk of lipid abnormalities, premature atherosclerosis, and early onset cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Majority of these children reside in sub-Saharan Africa, where monitoring of lipid profiles is not routine. In this study, we assessed the age dependent prevalence of dyslipidemia among children and adolescents who acquired HIV in Ghana and explored effects of age and sex. In this cross-sectional study, we examined lipid profiles of 397 children aged 6–18 years. Dyslipidemia was defined by elevated total cholesterol (TC) (≥200 mg/dL) or triglyceride (TG) levels (>150 mg/dL) or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (>130 mg/dL) or reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (