Nutritional assessment in intravenous drug users with HIV/AIDS

Studying metabolic, endocrine, and gastrointestinal (MEG) disorders in drug abuse and HIV infection is important. Equally important, however, are the tools we use to assess these disorders. Assessment of nutritional status ma y include any combination of biochemical and body composition measurements, dietary intake assessment, and metabolic studies, Each method has its stre ngths and weaknesses and there is no perfect tool. When assessing nutrition al status in injection drug users (IDU) and in HIV-infected people, the dec ision on which method or methods to use becomes even more complex. A review of studies reported during the XII World Conference on AIDS reveals that o f 64 abstracts on the topic of nutrition in HIV-infected adults, only 11 as sessed diet, 41 assessed anthropometry, and 23 assessed some form of bioche mical measure. The most commonly reported methods for dietary intake includ ed 24-hour recalls, food records, and food frequencies. The commonest metho ds used for measuring body composition included height, weight, bioimpedanc e, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Biochemical measurements in cluded various blood nutrients, lipids, and albumin. Methods varied greatly between studies, and caution should be taken when trying to compare result s across studies, especially among those using different methods. Currently , few studies deal with the development of methods that can be used for res earch in HIV-infected and IDU populations. We need to work toward better to ols in dietary intake assessment, body composition, and biochemical measure ments, especially methods that will allow us to track changes in nutritiona l status over time.