Effect of HIV serotypes and duration of HAART use on the level of CD4 counts among HIV patients in Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: CD4 count is a marker for HIV disease progression, an important factor for initiating treatment as well as for monitoring effectiveness of  treatment of antiretroviral therapy. A number of factors affect the rate of CD4 recovery during treatment.

Aim: This study aims to determine the effect of HIV serotypes on CD4 count as well as he effect of duration of HAART on CD4 count. A cross-sectional  study was conducted.

Methods: A total of 335 HIV patients (251 HIV patients on HAART and 84 HAARTnaïve) were recruited for this study. Blood specimens were collected from each patient used to determine CD4 count and HIV serotype using flow cytometry and immunochromatographic methods respectively.

Results: The CD4 count of HAART-naïve HIV patients were significantly lower than that of their counterparts on HAART (p<0.0001). Generally, patients  infected with HIV-1 had significantly higher CD4 count than those dually infected with HIV1/2 (p=0.0187). There was a significant correlation between  duration of HAART use and CD4 count resulting in increased CD4 count with increasing duration of HAART use (r = 0.2347: p<0.001). In terms of HIV  serotypes, it was observed only for HIV-1 (r=0.3271, p<0.001) and not among HIV-1/2 patients were an insignificantly weak correlation was observed (r=-  0.0089: p>0.05). There was no significant association between HIV serotypes and immunosuppression as measured by CD4 count < 200cells/ µL (p> 0.05). 

Conclusion: CD4 counts were higher among HIV-1 patients and this increase was associated with duration of HAART use. Use of appropriate HAART  agents to improve CD4 count of HIV-1/2 infected patients is advocated.