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NEW ORLEANS, LA—Vitamin D deficiency is “highly prevalent” among treatment-naïve HIV-infected patients, and is more frequent in these patients than healthy controls, according to research findings reported at IDWeek 2016.
“Higher HIV viral load seems to induce lower levels of vitamin D. However, in these patients, bone involvement does not seem to be common,” reported María Elena Ceballos, MD, of the Infectious Diseases Department/Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in Santiago, Chile, and her coauthors.
It is unclear whether nutritional factors, comorbidities, or antiretroviral therapy (ART) explain observed bone loss and vitamin D deficiency among patients with HIV infection, Dr. Ceballos noted. The research team therefore examined the associations of vitamin D deficiency and bone involvement in newly-diagnosed, ART-naive HIV-positive adults.
Sixty-one male patients between ages 19 and 50 years were enrolled. The mean patient age was 31 years. Patients with histories of fragility-related bone fractures, bone metabolic disease, or secondary causes of osteoporosis were excluded from the study.
“Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), fasting serum sample of 25OHD, CTx (bone resorption marker), PTH, TSH, testosterone, biochemical parameters, CD4 count and HIV viral load (VL) were measured,” she explained.
Associations with body mass index (BMI), sunlight, smoking, drug use, dairy consumption, physical activty, and season of sampling were then analyzed; levels of the vitamin D metabolite 25OHD were compared between patients and a healthy-control group of 22 age-, sex-, and season-sampled-matched volunteers.
“Mean 25OHD was significantly lower in patients (17.3 ± SD 6.6ng/mL) vs. controls (20.9 ± SD 6.9ng/mL),(P=0.039),” the researchers reported. “Vitamin D deficiency (25OHD <20ng/mL) was found in 68.3% of patients. Mean 25OHD in patients with VL >105 was 14.9ng/mL (SD 6.1), while in patients with VL <105, it was 18.9ng/mL (SD 7.1) (P=0.044).”
The team found no statistically-significant associations between 25OHD, DXA, or CTx, and the other studied variables, they reported.
