A STUDY ONCYTOPENIAS AND THE FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CYTOPENIAS AMONG HIV INFECTED PATIENTS ADMITTED AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Introduction: India has the third highest burden of HIV in the world. Haematological complications are common in HIV patients, of which cytopenias are the most frequently encountered. The cytopenias have been found to adversely affect the outcome of HIV patients with greater mortality and decreased quality of life. Aims and Objective: To assess the prevalence of cytopenias among patients admitted in a tertiary care hospital and to assess the factors associated with the cytopenias. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in the department of general medicine at a tertiary care hospital and 191 patients admitted in the hospital during the study period were taken for the study. The baseline investigations at the time of admission were taken into consideration. Patients were interviewed and charts reviewed to collect the data. The data collected was analysed with SPSS-2018. Continuous variables were expressed as mean +/- standard deviation and as median and interquartile ranges as appropriate. Categorical variables were expressed as percentages and frequencies. Comparisons between data was done by student’s t test and chi square. The factors associated with various cytopenias was assessed using log binomial regression. A p value of < 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: The overall prevalence of any cytopenia was found to be 85.9%. The most common cytopenia was anaemia with a prevalence of 78.5% followed by thrombocytopenia and leucopenia with prevalences of 28.8% and 24.1% respectively. Anaemia was found to be more prevalent among females with a prevalence ratio of 3.05 (95% CI: 1.39- 10.16, p value 0.009) when compared to males. The most common cause of anaemia was found to be B12 deficiency. There was significant association between leucopenia and CDC staging with the prevalence of leucopenia being higher among patient with CDC stage 3. [Prevalence ratio:1.46 (95% CI 0.67-3.17, p 0.024)]. No significant association was found with gender, duration of HIV, ART regimen, CDC stage or presence of opportunistic infections and thrombocytopenia. Conclusion: The prevalence of cytopenias among HIV patients was found to high – 85.9% especially compared to other developed countries. The most common cytopenia among the patients was found to be anaemia with a prevalence of 78%. The next most common cytopenia was thrombocytopenia, followed by leucopenia. The factors associated with these cytopenias can help to screen for patients at higher risk of developing these cytopenias and hence establish preventive strategies against them.