ABSTRACT
Aim: This work was carried out to study the hematologic profile of human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV)-positive patients and its association with the clinicoimmunologic stage
of the disease.
Materials and Methods: A total of 187 patients with HIV, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, diagnosed
by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method according to the National AIDS
Control Organization (NACO) guidelines were included in this study. Patients in the
study population were divided into two groups: (1) Group A (antiretroviral therapy
(ART) included patients receiving ART [ART-Y]) and (2) Group B included treatment
naïve patients (ART-N). The patients were tested for hemoglobin (Hb), total red blood
cells (RBC) count, RBC indices, reticulocyte count, packed cell volume (PCV), total
lymphocyte counts(TLC), differential leukocyte counts (DLC), platelet count, and erythrocyte
sedimentation rate (ESR). Cut-off values were determined as Hb < 10 g/dl, platelet
count < 1.5 lakh/cumm, and TLC < 4,000/cumm. The group or categorical data were tested
for statistical significance using Chi-square test and Z-test. The difference was
reported as significant if P< 0.05.
Results: (1) Anemia (predominantly normocytic normochromic) was prevalent in 40.1%, with slightly
higher prevalence in those not receiving ART. It occurred with high frequency in patients
with immunological (42.05%) and clinical acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome
(AIDS) (70.58%) compared with those who had an asymptomatic HIV infection with CD4
> 200/μl (28.57%). Patients on zidovudine (AZT) therapy had 34.6% anemia with increased
mean corpuscular volume (MCV). (2) Thrombocytopenia was seen in 3.74% patients (higher
percentage in untreated patients). (3) Leucopenia was observed in 5.88% in ART-Y (Group
A) and 8.14% in ART-N (Group B) patients. (4) Pancytopenia was found in 1.6% patients.
Key words:
Anemia - art - clinicoimmunologic stage - human immunodeficiency virus
