Abstract
BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) treatment may present significant hematological disorder and some anti-TB drugs also have serious side effects. Although many other diseases may be reflected by the blood and its constituents, the abnormalities of red cells, white cells, platelets, and clotting factors are considered to be primary hematologic disorder as a result of tuberculosis treatment. The aim of this study was to determine hematological profiles of TB patients before and after intensive phase treatment.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine hematological profiles of TB patients before and after intensive phase treatment.MethodsSmear positive new TB patients were recruited successively and socio-demographic characteristics were collected using pre-tested questionnaire. About 5 ml of venous blood was collected from each patient and the hematological profiles were determined using Mindry BC 3000 plus automated hematology analyzer.ResultThe hematological profiles of TB patients showed statistically significant difference in hematocrit (38.5 % versus 35.7 %), hemoglobin (12.7 g/lversus11.8 g/l) and platelet (268 × 103/μlversus239 × 103/μl) values of patients before initiation of treatment and after completion of the intensive phase of tuberculosis treatment, respectively (P < 0.05). The red cell distribution width (RDW) of treatment naïve TB patients was by far lower (17.6 ± 7.09 %) than the corresponding RDW (31.9 ± 5.19 %) of intensive phase treatment completed patients. Among TB patients that had high platelet distribution width (PDW) (n = 11) before initiation of TB treatment, 10 demonstrated lower PDW values after completion of the intensive phase. There was no significant difference on total white blood cell count among TB patients before and after completion of the 2 month treatment.ConclusionThe levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit and platelet count of the TB patients were significantly lowered after completion of the intensive phase of TB treatment. Significant variation of the RDW and PDW were also observed among treatment naïve and treatment completed patients. Hematological abnormalities resulted from TB treatment should be assessed continuously throughout the course of tuberculosis therapy.
Highlights
Tuberculosis (TB) treatment may present significant hematological disorder and some anti-TB drugs have serious side effects
The levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit and platelet count of the TB patients were significantly lowered after completion of the intensive phase of TB treatment
The result of this study showed that the Hgb concentration, HCT, PLT and platelet distribution width (PDW) values were reduced after completion of the intensive phase of tuberculosis treatment
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) treatment may present significant hematological disorder and some anti-TB drugs have serious side effects. Many other diseases may be reflected by the blood and its constituents, the abnormalities of red cells, white cells, platelets, and clotting factors are considered to be primary hematologic disorder as a result of tuberculosis treatment. Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious disease that can affect almost any tissue and organs of the human body but mainly cause infection of the lungs [1]. About a third of the world’s population is estimated to be infected with tubercle bacilli and at risk of developing active TB disease. About 2.4 million new TB cases and 540,000 TB-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa annually [3]. The annual TB incidence of Ethiopia is estimated to be 341/ 100,000. Tuberculosis mortality rate is 73/100,000 and the prevalence of all forms of TB is estimated to be 546/ 100,000 [5]
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