Prevalence and associated factors of thrombocytopenia among human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients at a tertiary care hospital in İzmir, Turkey

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of thrombocytopenia in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in İzmir, Turkey. All HIV-infected patients admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology between 2006 and 2011 were recruited. Patients with thrombocytopenia at any time point were defined as the case group and the remaining patients were defined as the control group. The frequency of thrombocytopenia was 35.8%. Thrombocytopenia was more frequent in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) than in patients without AIDS (P < 0.05) and in antiretroviral-naive patients than in patients on combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) or those who had ever used cART in the past (P < 0.05). Additionally, rates of tuberculosis infection, prophylactic use of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX), and being anti-HCV seropositive at any time point were higher in patients with thrombocytopenia than in the control group (P < 0.05), and the case group had lower CD4+ T lymphocytes at first admission (P < 0.05). The main finding was the clear association between thrombocytopenia and advanced and uncontrolled HIV infection. Tuberculosis and HCV coinfections were also identified as associated factors for thrombocytopenia.