Zinc Status in Virological Controlled Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infected Patients

Zinc (Zn) is a key micronutrient for correct immune function and its deficiency correction has been shown to be useful in HIV-infected but most of the studies included a significant proportion of patients without adequate virological control. It would be interesting to establish the prevalence, associated factors and clinical repercussions of Zn deficiency in patients with good virological to assessing the usefulness of Zn monitoring in the routine follow-up of well controlled HIV-infected patients, based on the colorimetric techniques commonly used in daily clinical practice. We included the first 100 patients that met the requirements of HAART and viremia levels under 200 copies for at least 6 consecutive months, with no active illicit drug use, active infections or weight loss of any cause during the previous 6 months. Serum Zn concentration was measured using a colorimetric assay (Sentinel Diagnostics®) adapted to the Cobas 8000 analyzer (Roche Diagnostics). The Zn values showed a normal distribution with a mean concentration of 88.7 µg/dl (SD 23.3) and were found to be decreased in 13 patients and in 6 subjects were below 61 µg/dl. Both the simple statistical analysis and the multivariate regression model only identified a significant effect for age and alcohol consumption. In sum an important number of HIV-infected with effective and prolonged HAART and no evidence of active infections or other associated factor show diminished serum Zn concentrations. The inclusion of at least occasional Zn determinations should be considered in the regular follow-up evaluations of HIV-infected patients.