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Vitamin D deficiency prevalent among children with HIV
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Vitamin D supplementation may be warranted in children who have HIV, according to study results published online.
Grace A. McComsey, MD, of the department of pediatric infectious diseases, Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, and colleagues looked at vitamin D levels, metabolic and other markers in a group of 30 children who had HIV, and 31 other children who served as controls.
Grace A. McComsey
McComsey and colleagues said proportions of vitamin D, as measured by blood concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was similar between the study and control groups. However, the researchers noted the similarity was because both groups were considered deficient in vitamin D.
“In fact, 72% and 87% of the HIV-infected subjects and healthy controls, respectively, were deficient as per both the current Endocrine Society and IOM guidelines,” the researchers wrote. They added that serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was also negatively correlated with BMI, insulin resistance, HIV duration, and cumulative use of ART, non- and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
“A lot of interest has been placed on vitamin D in the general population because of the multiple health benefits of vitamin D. Investigating vitamin D in patients with HIV is even more crucial. Not only do adults and children living with HIV have an astounding high rate of vitamin D deficiency, but they also have altered immune system, heightened chronic inflammation and high risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” McComsey told Infectious Diseases in Children. “Vitamin D presents a cost effective and safe mean to potentially modify each of these abnormalities and risks.”
Grace A. McComsey, MD, can be reached at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, 11100 Euclid Ave., Cleveland OH, 44106; email: gam9@case.edu.
Disclosure: Some researchers reported research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cubist, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer and Tibotec.
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