Vitamin D and HIV infection: a review of the clinical evidence

Abstract

The positive effects of vitamin D in different acute and chronic diseases (e.g., bone and renal disorders, acute and chronic respiratory tract infections, and diabetes mellitus), and regulation of immune system function have been shown. In this review vitamin D status and the effects of its supplementation alone or in combination with other bone-modifying substances like calcium and bisphosphonates on the different aspects of human health have been investigated in HIV+ individuals. Three scientific electronic databases have been investigated for extracting related articles. Searching only PubMed yielded 59 results with ‘HIV OR AIDS’ and ‘Vitamin D’ keywords. Because many of the studies in this field are observational or cross-sectional, designing comprehensive and eligible randomized clinical trials has been recommended by several authors in order to develop evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to determine the best regimen of vitamin D supplementation in HIV-infected patients.