Evaluation of Serum Phosphate and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) Levels in HIV Patients on ART Attending River State University Teaching Hospital in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Aim: To assess serum phosphate and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels in HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) attending Rivers State University Teaching Hospital in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Study Design: Analytical cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Rivers State University Teaching Hospital in Port Harcourt, Nigeria., between September and November, 2025. Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted involving 50 participants: 25 HIV-positive subjects on stable ART attending Rivers State University Teaching Hospital in Port Harcourt, and 25 HIV-negative control subjects. Eligible subjects who met the inclusion criteria and provided consent were enrolled into the study until the target sample size was achieved. Five mL of blood was collected from each of the participants and serum phosphate was determined using the UV-phosphomolybdate method, while LH was measured using the ELISA method. Data was analyzed using SPSS, with t-tests and ANOVA employed for group comparisons and results were considered statistically significant at 95% confidence interval (p<0.05). Results: HIV-positive subjects exhibited significantly lower mean serum phosphate levels (1.48 ± 0.13 mg/dL) compared to HIV-negative control subjects (1.73 ± 0.17 mg/dL) (p=0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in overall mean LH levels between the HIV-positive (11.80 ± 13.36 mIU/ml) and HIV-negative (10.57 ± 11.16 mIU/ml) groups (p=0.726). However, within the HIV-positive cohort, significant gender and age differences were observed. HIV-positive females had markedly higher LH levels (21.15 ± 14.30 mIU/ml) than males (3.17 ± 1.15 mIU/ml) (p=0.001). Furthermore, LH levels declined significantly with increasing age (p=0.001), while serum phosphate also varied significantly by age (p=0.008). Conclusion: This study showed that HIV infection and ART use are significantly associated with reduced serum phosphate levels.