Comparative Analysis of Baseline and One Year Post HAART Haematological Parameters of HIV Infected Patients in Ilorin, Nigeria

Haematological abnormalities are common manifestations of HIV infection. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of HAART on haematological parameters of HIV infected patients.This was a longitudinal prospective study conducted at the HAART clinic of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin. Eighty newly diagnosed HIV positive patients between 21-75 years who were planned to commence HAART (lamivudine, zidovudine and nevirapine) were recruited into this study. Baseline and one year post-HAART full blood count were carried out by Sysmex KX21 according to manufacturer’s instructions.Twenty nine percent of the patients had anaemia, 13% had neutropaenia and 0.02% had thrombocytopaenia at presentation. There was a significant increase in mean hemoglobin concentration of the patients from 10.79±1.89g/dl at baseline to 11.52±1.27g/dl at one year post HAART initiation. (P value=0.003) There was a statistically significant difference in mean baseline haemoglobin concentration of patients in WHO clinical stages 1, 2 and 3(11.67±1.39g/dl, 10.47±2.09g/dl, 10.00±1.86g/dl respectively; P=0.012). HIV patients were more likely to present with anaemia followed by neutropaenia and rarely thrombocytopaenia. Severity of anaemia increased with disease progression. HAART led to improvement in haematological abnormalities with significant increase in haemoglobin concentration. Haemoglobin concentration may therefore be used to monitor response to HAART in HIV infected patients.