Association between abdominal aortic calcifications, bone mineral density and vertebral fractures in a cohort of HIV‐positive patients

Introduction Evidence from HIV‐negative cohorts suggests a link between osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. We evaluated the presence and distribution of abdominal aortic calcifications (AAC) and its correlation with bone mineral density (BMD) and vertebral fractures (VF) in a cohort of HIV‐positive patients. Materials and Methods In this cross‐sectional study, 280 asymptomatic HIV‐positive patients from the SPID (“San Paolo” Infectious Diseases) cohort were submitted to lateral spine X‐ray and DXA. AAC was identified using the AAC‐8 score, which estimates the total length of calcification of the anterior and posterior aortic walls in front of vertebrae L1–L4. Low BMD was defined by T‐score or Z‐score