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Many prior studies have suggested that HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) lead to decreased bone-mineral density (BMD), but the relative contribution of these factors — and their role in fracture risk — has been unclear.
In this retrospective study, researchers evaluated both traditional and HIV-related risk factors for osteoporotic (vertebral, hip, and wrist) fractures among 56,660 HIV-infected patients who received care at Veterans Health Administration facilities between 1988 and 2009. More than two thirds of the patients had at least 1 month of antiretroviral exposure, for a total of >164,000 person-years of exposure.
Some 951 patients experienced osteoporotic fractures during the observation period, mostly at the wrist. The r…