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MARCH 2, 2020 – Low bone density is common among people living with HIV, even those who have successfully suppressed their viral loads with antiretroviral therapy.

“Our finding highlights an under-recognized circumstance in which people with HIV infection often find themselves: Their viral load can be well controlled by efficacious, now easier-to-take medications, while other health conditions and risks that commonly co-occur — like substance use and other medical conditions — are less well-addressed,” says Dr. Richard Saitz, professor of community health sciences at BUSPH and the study’s senior author.

The researchers used data from 198 participants in the Boston ARCH cohort, a long-running study led by Saitz and funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that includes people living with HIV and current or past alcohol or drug use disorder. For the current study, the researchers analyzed participants’ blood samples, looking at biomarkers associated with bone metabolism (a life-long process of absorbing old bone tissue and creating new bone tissue) and a biomarker associated with recent alcohol consumption. They also used data from interviews in their analyses, and controlled for other factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, other substance use, medications, vitamin D levels, and HIV viral suppression.

@SciTechDaily