Standard TX recommended: BMD loss common in HIV patients.(Gynecology)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Osteoporosis and osteopenia are common in HIV-positive patients and should be treated no differently than in the rest of the population, Dr. Joan C. Lo said at a meeting on HIV management sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco.

Before the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), studies seemed to show that although advanced HIV disease was associated with decreased bone turnover, HIV-positive individuals and controls had similar spine and hip bone mineral density (BMD), said Dr. Lo of San Francisco General Hospital.

In the HAART era, studies point to significant HIV-related declines in BMD. This was attributed initially to the use of protease inhibitors, but these were cross-sectional studies; subsequent longitudinal studies showed that BMD was stable in patients on protease inhibitors. Much of the data in the pre-HAART era came from small studies in young patients, which may account for the discrepancy with later findings, she said.

Advanced HIV is associated with risk factors for osteoporosis and ...