Heroin and methadone users who’ve ever been diagnosed with AIDS are at dramatically higher risk of bone loss as they get older, according to a study published in the September 24 issue of AIDS.
Potent combination antiretroviral (ARV) therapy has significantly cut the death rate and led to longer life spans in people with HIV. This means that people are now living into older age, when additional health problems typically strike. In fact, experts project that by 2015 more than half of all people with HIV in the United States will be older than 50.
A growing concern is bone mineral loss—called osteopenia when it is mild and osteoporosis when it is more severe. Numerous studies have found higher rates of bone mineral loss among people with HIV than their HIV-negative counterparts. This is particularly true of HIV-positive men.
A further risk factor for decreased bone mineral density (BMD) is use of opiates, including heroin and methadone. Both drugs have been associated with osteopenia and osteoporosis. Since a significant number of people with HIV are current or former drug users, Anjali Sharma, MD, MS, and her colleagues from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn set out to measure bone health within this population.
Click here for the rest of the article.
More information about formatting options
PDF version
