RT - Journal TY - JOUR A1 - Kusfa, Ibrahim A1 - Abubakar, Aisha A1 - Muktar, Haruna A1 - Ibrahim, Ismaila A1 - Awwalu, Sani A1 - Balogun, Muhammad A1 - Shehu, Labaran A1 - Ahmadu, Isiyaku T1 - Comparative analysis of some hematological and immunological parameters of HIV-positive patients at a tertiary HIV treatment center in Zaria, Nigeria YR - 2017/1/1 JF - Sub-Saharan African Journal of Medicine JO - Sub-Saharan Afr J Med SP - 15 OP - 19 VO - 4 IS - 1 UL - https://www.ssajm.org/article.asp?issn=2384-5147;year=2017;volume=4;issue=1;spage=15;epage=19;aulast=Kusfa;t=5 DO - 10.4103/ssajm.ssajm_45_16 N2 - Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to immunological complications of the disease, hematological abnormalities have been documented as strong independent predictors of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected individuals. Objectives: To determine the effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on hematological and immunological parameters in HIV-positive patients. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional analytic study involving 90 HIV-positive treatment naïve patients aged 18 years and above attending a tertiary hospital over a 6-month period. Frequencies, proportions, and paired t test were performed using SPSS version 20.0 and the level of significance was set at ≤0.05. Results: The mean (±SD) age of the study participants was 35.6 ± 9.65 years with females comprising of 56 (62%). The mean (±SD) values of the hematological parameters (at baseline and 6 months after initiation of ART) were: hemoglobin concentration [10.9 ± 1.95 vs 11.8 ± 1.83 g/dL, 95% Confidence Interval (CI); −1.1938, −0.5218, P value <0.001], white blood cell count (5.95 ± 2.84 vs 5.32 ± 1.75 × 109/L, 95% CI; 0.0691, 1.1843, P value <0.001), mean corpuscular volume (83.04 ± 6.90 vs 85.33 ± 7.44 fL, 95% CI; −3.9424, −0.6290, P value <0.001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) (26.3 ± 2.93 vs 27.5 ± 3.44 pg, 95% CI; −1.7713, −0.5030, P value <0.001), MCH concentration (31.4 ± 1.86 vs 31.9 ± 1.71 g/dL, 95% CI; −0.9369, −0.1088, P value <0.001), lymphocyte count (37.0 ± 12.9 vs 38.7 ± 11.78%, 95% CI; −4.7148, 1.1170, P value <0.001), neutrophil count (46.6 ± 13.8 vs 46.4 ± 12.0%, 95% CI; −3.3644, 3.6444, P value <0.123), and CD4 count (222.3 ± 230.10 vs 284.2 ± 196.72 cells/μL, 95% CI; −96.2642, −27.5802, P value <0.001). Conclusion: Anemia, neutropenia, and immunosuppression were the predominant findings in this study at recruitment. However, an improvement of these parameters was observed 6 months after commencement of ART among the HIV-positive treatment naïve patients. This showed that ART has improved both the hematological and immunological parameters in HIV-positive treatment-naïve patients. ER -