Cross-sectional study reveals severe anemia in 22% of adults with HIV, indicating a substantial burden driven by advanced disease progression and low body mass index.
BACKGROUND AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study aimed at determining the prevalence and risk factors for severe anemia, severe microcytic anemia, and severe normocytic anemia among HIV-infected individuals aged >15 years. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the risk factors for anemia. RESULTS: Data from 40 408 patients were analyzed, showing an overall prevalence of 22% for severe anemia. The risk of developing severe anemia increased by 49% among patients with a body mass index of <18.5 kg/m(2), by approximately 2-fold among patients with the World Health Organization (WHO) stage III, and by 3-fold among patients with WHO stage IV illness. Severe normocytic anemia was uniquely increased among patients aged ≥50 years, among those with chronic diarrhea and Kaposi's sarcoma, and those taking cotrimoxazole. CONCLUSION: There was a high prevalence of severe anemia among adults infected with HIV. Focused identification of anemia should be based on the hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume measurements.
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Makubi et al. (2013) studied this question.
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