నైరూప్య

Correlation of HIV progression with absolute CD4 T-Lymphocyte count and red blood cell indices among HIV-Positive patients on art and art-naive problem.

Esan AJ

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is characterized by progressive damage to the body’s immune system which results in a number of opportunistic infections, immunological and haematological complications.The most important biomarkers of disease stage and progression in patients with an HIV infection are the CD4 count and viral load. However, red blood cell indices and some other haematological parameters reflect the degree of HIV disease progression.
Aim: To Correlate HIV progression with CD4 T-Lymphocyte Count and Red Blood Cell Indices among HIV-Positive Patients on ART and ART-Naïve.
Methodology: The study was a cross sectional study conducted at Federal Teaching Hospital (FETHI), IdoEkiti. Two hundred samples were collected from consented HIV patients, grouped as one hundred (100) HIV positive subjects on ART, one hundred (100) HIV positive subjects ART naive. Each group was classified into three stages of HIV infection using their CD4 values according to Centers for Disease Control as follows: Stage-1 CD4 ≥ 500 cells/uL, Stage-2: CD4 200–499 cells/uL and Stage-3: CD4<200 cells/uL. Three milliliters (3ml) of whole blood was collected and dispensed into 5ml K2EDTA bottle for immediate analysis of haematological parameters using haematology analyzer, CD4 count was analyzed using flow cytometer and subjects sample were re-screening for HIV using serial algorithm method.
Results: Mean values of RBC indices in CD4 stages<200 were lower compared to CD4 stages 200-499 and CD4 stages>500 among ART and ART-naive. There is significant difference (p<0.05) in red cell indices of ART and ART-naïve.
Conclusion: This study established correlation between absolute CD4 T-Lymphocyte count and red blood cell indices among HIV-positive patients on ART and ART-Naive as HIV-infection progresses.