Abstract:
Abstract
Background: Human immunodeficiency virus infection and its treatment affect the bone marrow
microenvironment directly or indirectly, peripheral blood cells and cause peripheral cytopenia/s.
However, comparative studies on the magnitude of cytopenia among highly active antiretroviral
therapy -naive and highly active antiretroviral therapy experienced human immunodeficiency virus
-infected adult patients are rare.
Objective: The study was aimed to determine the magnitude and associated factors of cytopenia
among highly active antiretroviral therapy-naive and highly active antiretroviral therapyexperienced human immunodeficiency virus -infected adult patients attending Debre Tabor referral
hospital.
Methods: Hospital-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from March-August
2021 among a total of 428 (214 highly active antiretroviral therapy -naive and 214 highly active
antiretroviral therapy experienced HIV-infected adult patients) human immunodeficiency virus -
positive adult study participants. The study respondents were selected using a convenient sampling
technique. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using structured questioner. Four
ml of blood sample was collected from each participants and analyzed for complete blood count,
cluster of differenation4+, and Viral load using Sysmex 500i hematology analyzer, FACSPresto,
Cobas 4800, respectively. Thin blood film and stool sample were examined for assessment of
peripheral cell morphology and heamoparasite screening and for intestinal parasites screening and
identification, respectively. The collected data were entered into Epi-data version 4.0 and exported
to STATA version14 for analysis. To assess the association between independent factors and
outcome variables, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression statistical models were used. Pvalues of less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.
Results: Among highly active antiretroviral therapy-naive study participants the magnitude of
cytopenia, anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia were 50.9%, 43.5%, 10.3 %, and 12.6%,
respectively. In addition, cytopenia, anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia in highly active
antiretroviral therapy-experienced study participants were 51.9 %, 32.2%, 14.0%, and 14.0 %
