Study of Cytopenia in HIV/AIDS at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital from India

Background: Hematological abnormalities are most common complications found in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and these complications increase with the advanced stage of diseases. Hematological disorders which are generally observed in HIV infection are different cytopenias like anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. Various type of cytopenias in HIV has been associated with different factors like sex, age, race or ethnicity, geographical location and CD4 count. So present study was planned with the aim to study the prevalence of cytopeniaviz anemia, thrombocytopenia and leucopenia in Indian population. Material and Methods: This crosssectional study was conducted at a Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Goernment Medical College Nanded in Maharashtra, India. The present study was approved by the local ethical committee of the institute. Total two hundred subjects were selected for study. To avoid the bias due to preexisting illness or previous treatment affecting hematological profile, proportions were compared using chi-square test of significance. Student t test was done as indicator of statistical significance. Data was analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 16.0. P value < 0.05 considered as significant and p value > 0.05 non-significant. Results: In present study the prevalence of different types of cytopenia in decreasing order was anemia (75.5%) thrombocytopenia (8.5%) and leucopenia (2%). Discussion: The result observed in the present study were similar to other studies done in India and abroad. There were also few studies with the higher or lower prevalence of these cytopenias than the present study. These differences in observations might be due to the factors like age, sex, ART status and the population from different geographical locations. The present study provide some baseline data from Indian population and can be useful for future studies in people living with HIV/AIDS. Conclusion: Different types of cytopenias like anemia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia are very common among people living with HIV/AIDS. The antiretroviral therapy (ART) shows reversal of these cytopenias and must be initiated as early as possible and maintained during course of disease.