Association of Hematological Profile of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Patients with Clinicoimmunologic Stages of the Disease

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.