Private MD News

Vitamin D test may help HIV-positive men

Category: Vitamin D Deficiency-Diagnosis and Treatment

New research has emerged that suggests men who are HIV-positive may want to get a vitamin D test to see if they are deficient in the nutrient.

In study that was presented at the Fifth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, it was found that approximately half of the test subjects had abnormally low levels of vitamin D in their system, AidsMeds.com reports.

According to the researchers, this deficiency left the study participants, who were all men from New York City, open to developing various health conditions which could be made worse when combined with HIV.

Dr David Rubin examined a total of 62 HIV-positive men with an average age of 48, according to the article. At the conclusion of his study, he found that nearly 42 percent were deficient in vitamin D and of that amount, 11.3 percent were severely deficient.

This is not the first study focusing on vitamin D deficiency in HIV-positive subjects.

In 2006 a similar study was done, only this one targeted a total of 359 adolescents and young adults who were HIV-positive and found that 87 percent had a vitamin D insufficiency.