Dr. Tekeda Ferguson, LSUHSC School of Public Health Assistant Professor, discusses how HIV infection is now largely a chronic condition as a result of the success of antiretroviral therapy in her new research study “Reduced Serum Osteocalcin in High-Risk Alcohol Using People Living With HIV Does not Correlate With Systemic Oxidative Stress or Inflammation: Data From the New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV Study”. The pathophysiological basis of bone loss in the PLWH population is unclear but has been suggested to be linked to oxidative stress and inflammation. To test the hypothesis that PLWH consuming excessive alcohol have altered markers of bone turnover and/or calcium homeostasis in association with oxidative stress, Dr. James Watt and Ferguson correlated measurements of alcohol consumption with markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, serum calcium concentrations, and measurements of bone turnover, including c-terminal telopeptide cross-links (CTX-1) and osteocalcin.
Data were drawn from cross-sectional baseline data from the ongoing New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV (NOAH) study, comprised of 365 in care PLWH. Alcohol consumption measures (Alcohol Use Disorders Test, 30-day timeline follow-back calendar, and phosphatidylethanol [PEth]) were measured in a subcohort of 40 subjects selected based on highest and lowest PEth measurements. In this subcohort of PLWH, the research team detected significant associations between at-risk alcohol use and osteocalcin, and at-risk alcohol use and serum 4-HNE, suggesting suppression of bone formation independent of increased systemic oxidative stress with increasing alcohol consumption. FULL ARTICLE HERE