title: Body composition studies in HIV-infected individuals.
abstract: Malnutrition is common in HIV infection. Early studies demonstrated a disproportionate depletion of body cell mass compared to body weight, plus relative expansion of extracellular water volume. Neutron activation studies showed that both potassium and nitrogen were depleted in the HIV+ subjects, whereas cross-sectional imaging documented depletion of skeletal muscle mass. The etiology of malnutrition affects the composition of lost weight. Malnutrition is associated with adverse outcomes, whereas clinical stability is associated with nutritional stability. Increasingly, body composition studies are being incorporated into clinical trials. Hypercaloric feeding promotes gains in weight and body fat, but not in lean mass. Adjunctive therapies include anabolic agents, both steroids and recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH), cytokine inhibitors, and resistance training exercise. In addition to increasing fat-free mass, these therapies also have benefits in quality of life, notably functional performance, as well as physical function. Current research on alterations in body composition in HIV have noted a redistribution of fat, with visceral obesity in patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10025, USA. dpkotler@aol.com
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kotler
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D001825:Body Fluid Compartments; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D009501:Neutron Activation Analysis; D015430:Weight Gain