Hospital del Mar leads the way in avoiding fractures in HIV patients

Researchers and doctors from Barcelona's Hospital del Mar and its Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have that shown for the first time that bone problems and fractures in HIV sufferers are caused by the infection and not antiretroviral treatment, as was believed.

The study, published in the 'Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy', used a bone-quality measuring technique designed in the US, and developed by Hospital del Mar staff, to show that the risk of fractures is related to the inflammation caused by the chronic infection.

The life expectancy of HIV sufferers has increased significantly thanks to antiretroviral treatments, but a side effect is that patients also develop other pathologies associated with the medication they have to take, such as cardiovascular, renal, or bone problems.

In these cases, tests show a decrease in calcium levels in the bone, which is an indicator of fracture risk. However, the new study indicates that this test by itself is not enough to predict whether the patient will go on to develop problems.

Dr. Güerri: "Antiretroviral treatment improves bone state"

According to Dr. Robert Güerri, an attending physician in the hospital's Infectious Diseases Service and the article's main author, the results of the work show that "it is the HIV itself that affects the bone, while the antiretroviral treatment improves bone state in patients."