Body burden of heavy metals among HIV high risk population in USA

HIV high risk population may face not only the threat of HIV infection but also a higher chance of exposure to environmental contaminants. However, no previous studies have examined the body burden of environmental pollutants including heavy metals among HIV high risk populations. The aim of this study was to investigate whether adults aged 20-59 years old at high risk of HIV infection have higher blood levels of heavy metals compared to those with low risk of HIV infection in United States.

We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010 to compare exposures to heavy metals including cadmium, lead, and total mercury by HIV risk status.

The results showed that people at high risk of HIV had higher blood concentrations of all heavy metals compared to their counterparts with lower HIV risks. In multivariate linear regression models, HIV risk status was significantly associated with increased blood cadmium, lead, and total mercury after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, and poverty income ratio.

Our study suggests that people at high risk of HIV have significantly higher body burden of heavy metals including cadmium, lead, and mercury compared to those with low risk of HIV. Further longitudinal study collecting more pollutants are warranted to determine the potential health effects of these elevated pollutants on both HIV-infected and HIV high-risk populations.