Prevalence of anemia before and after initiation of antiretroviral therapy among HIV infected patients at Black Lion Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study

Background Anemia is the most common hematological abnormality in Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients and a significant predictor of its progression to AIDS or death. This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of anemia before and after initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among HIV positive patients attending Black Lion Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted from January to April, 2017 in Black Lion Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A total of 255 patients on ART were selected using simple random sampling techniques. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the study subjects were collected using structured questionnaire. Measurements of complete blood cell counts and CD4 + T cell counts were made using Sysmex XT 2000i hematology analyzer and BD FACS Count CD4 analyzer, respectively. Statistical analysis of the data (Chi-square, paired T-test, logistic regression) was done using SPSS version 20. A p-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results Prevalence of anemia before and after ART initiation was 41.9 and 11.4% respectively. There are a significance differences in CD4 + T cell count, RBC count, hemoglobin values and RBC indices in HIV patients before and after ART initiation (p-value < 0.05). WHO clinical stages and CD4+ T cell counts were found to be associated with the prevalence of anemia before ART initiation. Among the total number of anemic cases, normocytic normochromic anemia was present in 71% of the cases before ART and in 58.6% of the cases after ART. The prevalence of macrocytic normochromic anemia before and after ART initiation was 4.7 and 27.6% respectively. Conclusions It is evident from this study that there is a remarkable reduction in the prevalence of anemia after ART initiation. However, a significant proportion of HIV patients remained anemic after 6 months of ART initiation suggesting the need for routine screening and proper treatment of anemia to mitigate its adverse effects.