Limited usefulness of lymphocytopenia in screening for AIDS in hospital patients

Lymphocytopenia is often present in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and has been suggested as a useful screening test for AIDS. Of 625 patients consecutively admitted to an acute care university teaching hospital 91 (15%) were found to have a lymphocyte count of less than 1 X 10(9)/L, and 25 (4%) had a count of less than 0.5 X 10(9)/L. The corresponding figures for 32 patients at the hospital in whom AIDS had been diagnosed were 13 (41%) and 4 (13%). Absolute lymphocyte counts in hospitalized patients should not be used as the sole means of identifying patients at high risk for AIDS.