Objective: In HIV-infected populations from developing countries, it is unclear what proportion of anemia is attributable to iron deficiency (ID). The objective of this study was to evaluate the iron status in anemia of chronic disease of patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection attending Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi.
Design and setting: A total of 312 subjects comprising of 207 confirmed HIV positive patients and 105 apparently healthy subjects as control were evaluated for indices of anemia using SYSMEX KX 21N hematology analyzer machine (Kobe, Japan), CD4 count using CYFLOW SL machine (Artec, Germany), and total iron binding capacity and serum iron using colorimetric method.
Results: While results showed that Serum Iron, Transferrin Saturation, PCV, RBC, MCV, MCH, MCHC and RDWCV are within normal reference range but statistically different (p < 0.05) compared to the controls. Stratifying them on the basis of CD4 count showed that in AIDS patients the indicators are generally lower with Hb, PCV, MCH and RDWCV showing statistical significance (p < 0.05) compared with patients with CD4 > 200 cells/mm3. Serum iron (50%) and transferring saturation (47.9%) contributed highest to anemia prevalence especially in males while Hb concentration (47.2%) is the major contributor to anemia in females.
Conclusion: It was concluded therefore that albeit, on average, the parameters of iron status did not indicate iron deficiency or iron overload in the HIV-status groups and AIDS patients, a large percentage of patients did have anemia of chronic disease with HIV-infected women afflicted more often. The anemia is generally normocytic hypochromic in AIDS patients.