Prevalence of anemia and associated factors in HIV-1 infected children before and after initiation of antiretroviral therapy in Burkina Faso: A retrospective study

Anemia is a public health problem and has significant adverse health consequences in HIV-infected persons. In Burkina Faso, there are little data on anemia in HIV-1 infected children. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of anemia and its associated factors in HIV-infected children before and after their highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This was a retrospective study that involved a cohort of 151 HIV-1 infected children on HAART at the pediatric service of Saint Camille Hospital, from January 2018 to October 2018. Data were collected before and after their HAART initiation and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. The prevalence of anemia was 81.46% before treatment and 48.34% 12 months after initiation of treatment. There was a significant association between gender, BMI, TB, and CD4 counts before HAART initiation While, after HAART initiation, only gender, age, and CD4 T cell count were significantly associated with anemia. Children with a CD4 count <200 Cell/µl had a risk of developing anemia before HAART initiation but no longer had a risk of developing anemia 1 year after HAART initiation [OR=0.35 (0.14-0.89); p=0.028 vs. OR=1.54 (0.67-3.51); p=0.300].This study showed that antiretroviral treatment contributes strongly to improving the hemoglobin level in persons living with HIV.