Evaluation of Bone Mineral Density and Correlations with Inflammation Markers in Romanian Hiv-positive Patients Undergoing Combined Antiretroviral Therapy

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between inflammation and bone mineral density (BMD) in HIV patients undergoing combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) and the risk for BMD disturbances. We performed a crosssectional study on HIV positive (HIV+) patients, from “Matei Balș” National Institute of Infectious Disease, between June 2008 2010. Blood samples were analysed for tumour necrosis (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, C reactive protein (CRP). All patients had dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan. We enrolled 56 HIV patients, 59% males, with median age of 28 years. According to the T-score, 20% had low BMD, 16% osteopenia and 4% osteoporosis. We divided the patients into 2 groups according to the sex. We found direct correlations between T-score and body mass index (BMI) in males and between T-score and CRP in females. There were no correlations between T-score and standard antiretroviral therapy (ART) duration or the number of cART regimens. There were no differences in T-score for patients with/without protease inhibitors (PI)/nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) regimens. There is a low prevalence of decreased BMD in young HIV patients undergoing cART. In males, the main risk factor was low BMI. Many patients had systemic inflammation despite effective cART, but there was no correlation between BMD and inflammation.