title: The association of HIV status with bacterial vaginosis and vitamin D in the United States.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the association between vitamin D deficiency and bacterial vaginosis (BV) among nonpregnant HIV-infected and uninfected women.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a substudy of the Women's Interagency HIV Study, including women from Chicago and New York, the association between BV and vitamin D deficiency, demographics, and disease characteristics was tested using generalized estimating equations. Deficiency was defined as <20 ng/mL 25 (OH) vitamin D and insufficiency as >20 and ≤30 ng/mL. BV was defined by the Amsel criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 602 observations of nonpregnant women (480 HIV infected and 122 uninfected), BV was found in 19%. Vitamin D deficiency was found in 59.4%, and insufficiency was found in 24.4%. In multivariable analysis, black race was the most significant predictor of BV (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 5.90, (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.52-13.8). Vitamin D deficiency was independently associated with BV among HIV-infected women (AOR 3.12, 95% CI 1.16-8.38) but not among HIV-uninfected women. There was a negative linear correlation between vitamin D concentration and prevalence of BV in HIV-infected women (r=-0.15, p=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vitamin D deficiency was very common in this cohort and significantly associated with BV among HIV-infected women. These preliminary findings suggest that further epidemiologic and mechanistic exploration of the relationship between vitamin D and BV in HIV-infected women is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Stroger Hospital of Cook County/The CORE Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA. audrey_french@rush.edu
authors.forename: Audrey L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: Oluwatoyin M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Adeyemi
authors.forename: Denis M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Agniel
authors.forename: Charlesnika T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anastos
authors.forename: Mardge H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology