[Nutrition in HIV patients]

The authors carried out a research project in a nursing consultancy on patients suffering from Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Their study comprised 108 patients. The authors analysed the causes which provoke nutritional problems since the signs and symptoms derived from this disease are associated with opportunistic infections which directly affect nutritional requirements. The authors selected variables which would determine general parameters for a nutritional study: anthropological measurement parameters such as weight, height and other basic vital measurements; Biochemical parameters such as albumin and ferritin; clinical parameters such as diarrhoea, vomiting, anorexia, fever, and dysphagia. The biochemical parameters provided evidence in the albumin measurements that 65.28% of these patients suffer from severe malnutrition. With regards to anthropological measurements, basic vitals showed that 16.8 of these patients have a normal range while 52.64% fall below the 10th percentile which demonstrate important levels of cachexia. In the near future, these authors shall publish their study regarding the eating habits of these patients and its relationship to their nutritional status.