BACKGROUND:
We aimed to determine whether statin exposure in antiretroviral-treated individuals is associated with increases in hip circumference compared with HIV treatment without concomitant statin use.

METHODS:
This was a prospective multicentre cohort study involving individuals who had received antiretroviral therapy for at least 40 weeks and who were enrolled in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Longitudinal Linked Randomized Trials cohort. There were 2,223 participants in the statin-unexposed group and 371 in the statin-exposed group. The main outcome measure was change in hip circumference at week 32.

RESULTS:
The 32-week change in hip circumference in the statin-exposed group was 0.60 cm greater (95% confidence interval 0.11-1.10; P=0.02) than in the statin-unexposed group after adjustment for age, gender, race, baseline body mass index and thymidine analogue exposure.

CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings support the hypothesis that statins might be beneficial in lipoatrophy. Given the limited treatment options for this important problem, further studies are needed to confirm this effect and to determine its clinical significance.