Prevalence of anemia and associated factors among patients living with HIV/AIDS at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction Patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) face serious health problems due to associated anemia, which increases the likelihood of infection progression to state of a disease. Therefore, determining the prevalence of anemia in this vulnerable group might help to develop strategies to reduce the incidence of related cases. Material and methods Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to October, 2021 among HIV-positive patients at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital. Study subjects were selected using a simple random sampling technique, and pre-tested structured questionnaires were applied to obtain socio-demographic and clinical data. Blood samples were collected from patients for hemoglobin determination by hematology analyzer and CD4+ T-cells count. Data were entered using Epi-data manager (version 4.0.2.101) and analyzed by SPSS version 25.0. Results A total of 244 patients participated in this study. Overall anemia prevalence was 39.8% (95% CI: 33.6-46.2%), in 33 (13.5%) males and 64 (26.2%) females. Sixty-two (25.4%) patients were newly introduced to antiretroviral therapy and 35 (14.3%) patients were experienced. CD4+ T-cell of < 200/mm3 (AOR: 3.218; 95% CI: 1.401-7.387%), WHO clinical stage II (AOR: 9.060; 95% CI: 2.955-27.776%), female gender (AOR: 3.932, 95% CI: 1.878-8.233%), and body mass index of < 18.5 kg/m2 (AOR: 5.849; 95% CI: 1.824-18.752%) were among variables, which showed significant association with anemia. Conclusions The prevalence of anemia in antiretroviral therapy-experienced patients was higher as compared to naïve individuals. This study determined that anemia remains a major health threat to HIV/AIDS patients.

Keywords

• hiv/aids
• haart
• anemia
• southwest ethiopia