Abstract
Presently, there is the dearth of information on the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on haematological parameters in patients with multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the levels of selected haematological parameters in MDR-TB patients with or without HIV co-infection before the commencement of MDR-TB therapy. Complete blood count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were determined using an automated haematology analyzer and Westergreen method respectively in 115 patients with MDR-TB. Statistical analysis was done using the Student’s t-test, Mann Whitney U and Chi square as appropriate. P-values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Twenty-two (19.13%) of the recruited patients had co-infection with HIV. The mean levels of mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and haemoglobin (Hb) were significantly lower in MDR-TB patients compared with patients with MDR-TB/HIV co-infection. The proportion of patients with below reference range (BRR) MCV and mean cell haemoglobin (MCH) was 65% and 73.9% respectively. Similarly, the proportion of patients with BRR haemoglobin (Hb) level was 87% in the two groups with a higher proportion recorded in MDR-TB (90.3%) compared to MDR-TB/HIV co-infection. Also, BRR red cell distribution width (RDW) was recorded in majority (70.4%) of the patients with MDR-TB group having an insignificantly higher proportion (71.0%) compared to MDR-TB co-infection group (68.2%). Treatment naïve patients with MDR-TB have worse CBC findings consistent with iron deficiency anaemia. Hence, assessing haematological parameters before the commencement of MDR-TBtherapy might help in identifying patients that will require appropriate clinical intervention.