Relationship of vitamin D insufficiency to AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma outcomes: retrospective analysis of a prospective clinical trial in Zimbabwe.

What Was Tested

This clinical trial looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in Africans with AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma (AIDS-KS) and the role of vitamin D in AIDS-KS progression are unknown.

The researchers hypothesized that a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency would be found in Zimbabweans with AIDS-KS and that low baseline vitamin D would correlate with progression of AIDS-KS.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Ninety subjects were enrolled in a prospective pilot study investigation of the effect of antiretroviral therapy in the treatment of AIDS-KS in Harare, Zimbabwe.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as pilot.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study would be practical.

Co-formulated abacavir, lamivudine, and zidovudine was initiated; chemotherapy was provided at the discretion of the provider.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections, Anti-HIV Agents, Dideoxynucleosides, Disease Progression, HIV-1, Herpesvirus 8, Human and Lamivudine.

Author keywords: AIDS-KS and Vitamin D insufficiency.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a pilot study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2014 (International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases), a journal based in Canada.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.