In this group of urban, South African women, pre-ARV women were significantly lighter than 17DMAG price HIV-negative and non-ARV subjects and had lower fat mass than expected for their lean mass, selleck products raising the possibility that women with advancing HIV disease preferentially lose fat rather

than lean mass. There were no significant differences between groups in BMC or BMD at any site before or after adjustment for age, BA, weight and height and the observed smaller BA in the HIV-negative women disappeared after adjustment for age, height and weight. There was no significant difference in vitamin D status between groups with the majority of subjects having a serum concentration >50 nmol/l. The assessment of ‘optimal’ vitamin D status is problematic because varying cut offs are used to define sufficiency, insufficiency and deficiency [22]. A concentration below 25 nmol/l is generally recognised as indicating an increased risk of rickets and osteomalacia [23]. The 2010 Institute of Medicine report considered

that a blood 25(OH)D concentration of 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/l) to be sufficient for good bone health in ‘practically all individuals’ [24]. However, it noted that evidence was lacking to make a similar statement regarding non-skeletal health. In the context of HIV infection and ARV use, the optimal vitamin D status remains undefined because there may be different requirements for maximal bone health and immune functioning compared with HIV-negative populations. selleck chemical However, in contrast to other reports

[4, 25], in our study, there were no indications that HIV infection was associated with inferior vitamin D status because there were no significant differences in vitamin D status between the three groups, the distributions of 25(OH)D concentration were similar, and vitamin D status appeared to be generally adequate with very few women having a concentration <25 nmol/l. Contrary to previous reports [9], we found no significant differences in BMD between Farnesyltransferase either group of HIV-positive and HIV-negative women. Full adjustment for bone and body size did not alter these results. This lack of any differences is surprising as HIV-positive women with low CD4 counts, requiring ARV initiation, were significantly lighter, with lower fat and lean mass, than the other women. However, it may reflect the selection criteria for this study because despite recruiting women with low CD4 counts, of clinical concern, women with severe clinical disease received immediate ARV therapy and were thus excluded from the study. It may also be influenced by the fact that the subjects were not intravenous drug users and thus not exposed to the additional effect on BMD that this poses. Another limitation may be that the groups were different in terms of duration of hormonal contraception use, parity and total duration of lactation; however, at the time of the study, no women were pregnant or lactating.