Anti-HIV Drugs Do Not Lead to Osteoporosis

Researchers in Argentina report in the journal AIDS that anti-HIV drugs are not linked with the development of osteoporosis. Bone density was compared in 31 HIV-negative subjects and 111 HIV patients, 36 of whom were treated for more than one year with one drug regimen, 42 others treated with a second antiretroviral cocktail, and the remainder being treatment-naive. Bone thinning was evident in all of the HIV-positive study subjects, but there was no significant difference between HIV patients not taking anti-HIV drugs and those on the two antiretroviral regimens. The study did find that the duration of HIV infection was linked with osteoporosis; the lowest bone densities were seen in patients who had been infected the longest.