Vitamin A levels in HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVE

To study the correlation of vitamin A concentrations in patients with AIDS, HIV positive symptom free and HIV negative symptom free men and women.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SUBJECTS: Male and female volunteers aged between 15 and 60 years willing to undergo an HIV-test.

SETTING

Participants came from different backgrounds within the city of Ndola. Some were urban while others were peri-urban dwellers. They were included in the study only if they were willing to undergo the HIV test regardless of their place of residence.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: After obtaining consent blood samples were taken from the participants using needle and syringe. Whole blood was used to measure haematological indices while serum was used to measure vitamin A concentrations and HIV status.

RESULTS

One hundred and thirty five participants were recruited for the study. Vitamin A was analysed in eighty seven HIV negative symptom free, forty one HIV-positive symptom free and seven AIDS cases. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the variance of vitamin A levels in the three groups. Vitamin A deficiency is defined as blood concentrations below 30 micrograms/dl. Using this cut-off point, the Odds Ratio for deficiency if HIV-positive was found to be 6.3 (2.5, 16.7 p < 0.0001). The Odds Ratio for HIV and serum vitamin A deficiency was approximately the same for males and females. There was a modest correlation between vitamin A concentrations and haemoglobin (r = 0.34, 95% CI 0.18, 0.48, p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Vitamin A concentration is lowered in HIV infection. The depletion of vitamin A seems to increase with progression of the infection leading to AIDS disease. Whether regular supplementation of vitamin A to the HIV infected individual can lead to a delayed progression to AIDS needs to be explored.