Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is common among people living with HIV worldwide. There is a lack of studies focusing on prevalence and consequences of low levels of vitamin D in our health care area (south of Spain). The main aim of this study is to know the status of vitamin D and its consequences on parameters related to calcium metabolism in a cohort of patients with HIV infection in our area.

Methods/Design: Cross-sectional study encompassing HIV-infected outpatients treated in our hospital. Epidemiological variables and data related to vitamin D and calcium-phosphorus metabolism (i-PTH, serum calcium and phosphorus) were recorded. Vitamin D insufficiency (VDI) was defined as 25 OH-D levels <30 ng/ml and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) was defined as values of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D below 20 ng/ml. Secondary hyperparathyroidism related to low levels of vitamin D was defined as i-PTH levels higher than 65 pg/ml.

Results: HIV patients were included (mean age: 46±6.9 years; 87.2% males). Median vitamin D level was 30.9±13.8 ng/ml. Normal levels of vitamin D were observed in 46.8% of the cohort, VDI was present in 34.9% and VDD in 18.3%. We found no differences in prevalence of VDI and VDD related to gender or presence of HCV co-infection. According to status of vitamin D (normal, VDI and VDD), significant differences in laboratory variables related to calcium-phosporus metabolism were not observed except in serum phosphorus levels (P=0.04). Secondary hyperparathyroidism linked to low levels of vitamin D was found in the 20.4% of the cohort.

Conclusions: Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in our HIV-infected patients from south of Spain is very common. However, in our cohort, we found that its repercussions on calcium-phosphorus homeostasis are weak. Nevertheless, further studies are ongoing in our HIV-infected population to expand the knowledge on their clinical implications.