0000000000939385
AUTHOR
V. Li Vecchi
Associated Factors and Liver Disease Severity for Decreased Bone Mineral Density in HIV Mono- and HIV/HCV Co-infected Patients
Objective: We assessed the prevalence and risk factors of decreased bone mineral density (BMD) in patients mono-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or co-infected with hepatitis C virus (HIV/HCV). We also evaluated whether bone loss was linked to lipid asset in both groups and to severity of liver fibrosis in the co-infected group. Methods: We consecutively enrolled 194 HIV-patients (129 mono-infected and 65 co-infected). All HIV-patients underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), while co-infected patients underwent transient elastography. Advanced liver fibrosis was defined as a median liver stiffness ≥ 9.5 kPa. Fibrosis was also assessed in all the HIV-patients using …
Hepatitis C virus infection in hemodialyzed patients.
In spite of our present improved knowledge of the epidemiology and pathways of contamination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV), infection still remains a public health problem. One category of patients who have suffered greatly from the consequences of HCV infection is certainly that of hemodialysis patients. In the past, in fact, their need for transfusions exposed these patients to infection and, as a result, subjects on dialysis for over 15 years are today paying the price for those inevitable transfusions, as the virus and its pathways of contagion were unknown then. However, still today, albeit at a much lower prevalence, even subjects with a shorter dialysis age present a higher prevalen…
Osteoporosis risk factors in HIV positive women with osteoporosis: A retrospective analysis
Multifactorial risk factors such as HIV/HCV co-infection and antiretroviral therapy (ARV) have been associated with osteoporosis in HIV+ women. We retrospectively analysed which known risk factors were associated with the diagnosis of osteoporosis, according to the WHO definition, in HIV positive women who were followed-up at the AIDS Centre of the University of Palermo, Italy between January 2011 and December 2014. Twenty-one HIV+ women with osteoporosis (13 HIV+ mono-infected and 8 HIV/HCV co-infected females) who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and liver stiffness assessment were included in the study. No significant differences between the HIV and HIV/HCV group were fou…
Prevalence of biliary lithiasis in a Sicilian population of hemodialysis patients
Studies performed to date on the prevalence of biliary lithiasis (BL) in chronic renal failure patients on hemodialysis (HD) have given contradictory results. The aims of the present study were to evaluate the prevalence of BL and its main associated risk factors in a population of hemodialysis patients, and to compare the results with those we had obtained previously in an overt population of the same zone. The study included 171 patients (83 M, 88 F), mean age 62.5 years and mean duration of dialysis 66.7 months. The screening protocol also included body mass index (BMI), a number of biochemical parameters and an ultrasound scan of the gallbladder and biliary tract. The general prevalence…