Wound healing rates in HIV patients - Correlation with cd4 and cd8 counts

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) constitutes one of the most difficult challenges facing the healthcare profession today. A few studies showed the CD4 count to be a weak surrogate end point of clinical outcome in HIV infected patients, while three studies found that low CD4 count was a predictor of a poor outcome. There is no conclusive evidence regarding the association between CD4 counts, CD8 counts and wound healing in HIV infected patients. Materials and methods: This was a prospective study of 50 consecutive patients who were HIV positive and underwent emergency surgery at Gandhi Hospital from July 2013 to August 2015. Results: Out of the 50 patients surgical wounds of 13 patients were infected. Wounds of 37 patients were healthy. Of the 13 patients infected 7 patients had CD4 count less than 200 and 6 patients had CD4 count more than 200.Out of the 37 patients whose wounds were healthy 16 patients had CD4counts less than 200 and 21 patients had more than 200. Out of the 37 patients whose wounds were healthy 16 patients had CD4counts less than 200 and 21 patients had more than 200. Of the 13 patients infected 7 patients had CD4 count less than 200 and 6 patients had CD4 count more than 200. Conclusion: CD4 count does not correlate with healing of wound and severity of wound complication as test of significance is not proved. CD8 count has some correlation with wound healing but does not correlate with severity of wound complication. CD4 or CD8 count does not correlate with type of wound complication. CD4/CD8 ratio cannot be taken as a predictor of wound complication and assessing its severity.