Osteoporosis in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Patients – An Emerging Clinical Concern

Abstract

The advent of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) has significantly improved the survival of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- infected patients transforming the HIV infection from a fatal illness into a manageable chronic disease. As the number of older HIV-infected individuals increases, several aging-related co-morbidities including osteopenia/osteoporosis and fractures have emerged. Patients exposed to HIV infection and its treatment may develop fragility fractures with potential significant impact on quality of life and survival. However, the awareness of HIV-related skeletal fragility is still relatively low and most HIV-infected patients are not investigated for osteoporosis and treated with anti-osteoporotic drugs in daily clinical practice. This article reviews the literature data on osteoporosis and osteopenia in HIV infection, focusing on the pathophysiological, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of fragility fractures.

Impact of physical exercises on immune function, bone mineral density, and quality of life in people living with HIV/AIDS: a systematic review with meta-analysis

“…However, high incidence of comorbidities has been recorded in PLWHA, and might be due to the high rate of metabolic abnormalities resulting from toxic side effects of antiretroviral therapy(ART) [5]. These include low bone mineral density (BMD), and consequent high risk of fracture [6], cardiovascular diseases [7] , and instability of fat metabolism [8], which may be amenable to physical exercises.…”