- HIV can disrupt the circadian rhythm
- A disrupted circadian rhythm can in turn disturb the physical, mental and metabolic health
- HIV can negatively impact the quality of life
They found that circadian rhythms, measured by the hormone melatonin, was delayed by more than an hour on average in HIV positive participants. They also had sleep cycle that was also shorter as their sleep started later and finished earlier.
This suggests that HIV infection can cause a circadian rhythm disorder similar to jet lag.
How can Disturbance in Circadian Rhythm Affect Patients with HIV?
The authors believe that this disruption can significantly increase the burden of health problems that comes with HIV. This can also increase the risk of cardiovascular, metabolic, and psychiatric disorders.South Africa has the fourth highest rate of HIV prevalence in the world “The participants living with HIV essentially experience the one-hour disruption associated with switching to daylight savings time, but every single morning,” says Professor Malcolm von Schantz, Professor of Chronobiology at Northumbria University, corresponding author of the publication.
“This happens in spite of the fact that essentially everybody is exposed to the same light-dark cycle. Our findings have important potential implications for the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV, especially given the well-established relationships between disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep deprivation.”
“Our findings identify an urgent research topic,” says Xavier Gómez-Olivé, also from the University of the Witwatersrand, whose research grant funded the study. “The next step must be to establish if the same body clock disruption exists in people living with HIV who are younger and who live in other countries.”
Circadian rhythm also affects the immune responses as they can impact the regulation of virus replication and clinical management of these diseases.
Thus, further research is needed in this sector to improve the quality of life of HIV infected patients and also to ensure that existing treatment can work in a much efficient way.
Source-Medindia