A cross sectional survey of 581 patients in the Aquitaine Cohort in Southwestern France was undertaken in an effort to describe lipodystrophy in protease inhibitor (PI)-naïve patients. Patients were classified as having either: peripheral wasting of the face or limbs with subcutaneous veins (LD1); peripheral abdominal adiposity, buffalo neck, mammary hypertrophy or gynacomastia (LD2) or a mixture of syndromes.

Among the cohort, 221 patients were found to have lipodystrophy, 14% of whom (n = 31) were PI-naïve. Fourteen were characterized as having LD1, with 17 showing LD2 syndromes, and 6 patients showing mixed syndromes. Twenty-two of the patients received dual nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs); 10 patients were naïve to 3TC and 12 were naïve to d4T.

The data indicate that patients receiving NRTI therapy may develop lipodystrophy. In contrast to other data presented, the study did not find a correlation between specific medications such as d4T or 3TC and lipid abnormalities or lipodystrophy. However, the authors failed to report therapy history for the patients or duration of infection, so interpretation of the data is limited.