Thyroid Function Abnormalities among Patients with HIV/AIDS in South-Western Nigeria.

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for a huge proportion of the global burden of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). However, there is paucity of local studies assessing thyroid dysfunction among HIV/AIDS patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, severity and correlates of thyroid function abnormalities among HIV positive patients. We recruited 300 participants for this study conducted at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. One Hundred were HIV positive on HAART, another 100 were HIV positive but HAART-naïve and the remaining 100 participants that served as control were apparently healthy HIV negative individuals. Venous blood samples were collected from all the study groups for quantitative determination of Thyrotropin and free thyroid hormones, while thyroid autoantibodies were assayed in the two HIV positive study groups. The prevalence of thyroid function abnormalities among HIV positive subjects from this study was 33%. The mean free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free Thyroxine (FT4) were lowest in the HIV positive HAART naïve group (p<0.05). Correspondingly thyroid autoantibodies and CD4 counts were also significantly lower in HAART naïve group (p<0.05). In conclusion, abnormal thyroid function tests are common findings among HIV positive subjects, which is a more frequent occurrence among HIV positive HAART naïve subjects who usually present at CD4 nadirs with concurrently low thyroid hormone levels.

Keywords

• Thyroid Function Test
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
• Free T4
• Free T3
• Thyrotropin
• Nigeria