Vitamin D deficiency in a cohort of HIV-infected patients: clinical analysis.

Purpose of the study Observational studies have noted very high rates of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D3] levels in both general and HIV-infected populations. In HIV-infected patients, low 25(OH)D3 levels are secondary to a combination of usual risk factors and HIV-specific risk factors, like antiretroviral therapy []. The objective of our study is to analyse the magnitude of vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency and the role of various factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, season, and antiretroviral medications in our cohort of HIV-infected patients. Methods We prospectively collected data on 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels sampled between January 2009 and June 2011 from our cohort of 930 HIV-infected patients. Vitamin D dosage was performed using immunoassay ('Diasorin' - Saluggia, Italy). We divided vitamin D levels into 3 categories: 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <20 mg/nl were considered deficient, insufficient between 20 and 29 ng/ml. Levels ≥30 ng/ml were defined as normal []. Data on demographic features (age, ethnicity, season, heterosexuality vs homosexuality), clinical features and laboratory findings (CD4 cell count, viral load, HAART, BMI) were collected from patients' medical records using our institutional database 'Medical explorer v3r9, 2009'. Summary of results Overall, 848 patients were included in our study (Table 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]