Dossier: Osteoporosis Osteopenia and osteoporosis in HIV+ patients, untreated or receiving

Abstract In the last few years there are increasing evidences suggesting that osteopenia and osteoporosis are frequent among HIV positive patients.Itisstillnotclearifthebonedemineralizationisadirectconsequenceofviralinfectionoroftheantiretroviraldrugs.Studiestodatethereforegive conflicting results. We performed a study to evaluate the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in HIV positive patients, eitheruntreated or receiving antiretroviral therapy, to asses the frequency of these conditions and the role of antiretroviral drugs.© 2004 Elsevier SAS.All rights reserved. Keywords: HIV infection; Osteopenia/osteoporosis; HAART 1. Introduction Osteoporosis is frequent among patients with HIV infec-tionbutwestilldonotunderstandwhetherthebonedeminer-alizationisadirectconsequenceofviralinfectionperseorofthe antiretroviral therapy [1]. Even before HAART becameavailable, there was evidence that HIV could directly infectbone cells [2,3] and slow bone turnover [4]. Once HAARTbegan to be used, there was an increasing number of reportssuggesting that bone metabolism might be closely related tothe use of these drugs, particularly protease inhibitors.Thus,osteopenia and osteoporosis in HIV positive patients stillinvolve many open questions.