Haematological Indices of HIV-1 Infected Subjects on Antiretroviral Therapy from Selected Tertiary Hospitals in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Introduction: Changes in haematological indices could result from so many underlining factors, one of which could be an autoimmune response, defect in hemopoiesis, infection, cancer, and so on. Cytopenia is a common illness observable in the blood of people infected with HIV.

Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving two hundred patients. The blood samples of recruited subjects were collected aseptically before analysis for Haematology indices using Mindray BC-6800.

Results: Results showed that the lowest and highest count/L for haematological indices were; WBC 1.3-11.9 x109/L, Lymphocyte 0.3-6.4 x109/L, Monocyte 0.2-2.6 x109/L, Granulocyte 0.1-5.1 x109/L and Platelet 30-550 x109/L. White blood cell indices showed a significant difference in distribution of relative lymphocytes (Mean+SD 50.78+15.69) (P=0.000), Monocytes (Mean+SD 15.929+8.68) (P=0.000), Granulocytes (Neutrophils, Basophil and Eosinophil) (Mean+SD 33.287+18.05) (P=0.000), and absolute counts of lymphocytes (Mean+SD 2.742+1.14) (P=0.000), Monocytes (Mean+SD 0.838+0.48) (P=0.000), Granulocytes (Neutrophils, Basophil and Eosinophil) (Mean+SD 1.943+1.31) (P=0.000). Red blood cell indices showed a significant difference in their distribution across all ages in this study. Haemoglobin concentration (Mean+SD 10.491+2.30) (P=0.000), Haemoglobin crit (Mean+SD 40.52+6.98) (P=0.000), MCV (Mean+SD 92.03+6.68) (P=0.000), MCH (Mean+SD 23.43+2.32) (P=0.001), PLT x109/L (Mean+SD 223.10+84.52) (P=0.000), PDW (Mean+SD 13.04+5.23) (P=0.000). Similarly, age was a significant factor in the distribution of haematological parameters across all blood cell lines as it showed significant differences in white blood cell count, relative and absolute counts for Lymphocytes, monocytes, and granulocytes.

Conclusion: The study showed a substantial change in the WBC differential counts of study participants based on the duration of antiviral drug intake.