Infectious Diseases and Rare Diseases

HIV and Bone Damage

Bone damage is normally associated with individuals based on their age, gender, race, family history, diet, physical inactivity, smoking and drinking habits. Osteoporosis is the term associated with bone loss which indicates a serious loss of bone mass resulting it to break. Osteoporosis can bring on a lot of anxiety in affected individuals. Researchers have found that individuals infected with HIV are suffering from osteoporosis more than non-HIV infected individuals. The increased rates of osteoporosis among HIV infected people is a concern but it is noteworthy that the disease differs from young and middle aged HIV infected individuals to the older ones. Osteoporosis is less common in men as compared to women. This is due to a couple of reasons. First, men have larger skeletons compared to women leading to longer bone life and stronger bones. Second, bone loss in men tends to start later in life and progresses slower than women. Third, women are affected with rapid bone loss when their estrogen production drops as a result of menopause. Osteoporosis divided into two types, primary and secondary. Primary osteoporosis can occur in both men and women at any age. On the other hand, Secondary osteoporosis can occur in individuals who either take medications or suffer from disease that can decrease bone density. Bone Mineral Density tests are the only medical procedure to detect osteoporosis. In addition to being painless and noninvasive these tests are very helpful in measuring bone strength. Central machines, peripheral machines are examples of BMD tests. Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry also known as DEXA is the most widely used BMD test. Using radiation it measures BMD of spine, hip, or total body. Results of the BMD tests are usually termed as T-score which gives a measurement of difference between the tested bone density and the bone density of a young healthy individual.