Relação Entre as Manifestações Estomatológicas, Contagem de Células CD4+ e Carga Viral em Pacientes HIV Positivos

Abstract

RESUMO Objective: To evaluate the relationship between the stomatological manifestations and the immunological status and the intensity of viremia in HIV-positive patients. Method: Intraoral and perioral clinical examination of 76 HIV-positive patients treated in a reference service in the city of Aracaju, SE, seeking to identify stomatological alterations in these individuals. Thereafter, data regarding CD4+ cell count and viral load were compiled from the medical charts of these patients. These data were further correlated with the presence and type of stomatological manifestations presented. Results: 57.89% of the examined patients exhibited oral manifestations, pseudomembranous candidiasis (26.3%) and oral hairy leukoplakia (21.05%) being the most frequent lesions. There was also a clear trend to the appearance of stomatological manifestations with the increase of T cell depletion and viremia in the patients. However, no specific pattern of manifestation could be identified in the different ranges of the studied CD4+ cell count and viral load. Conclusion: The frequency of the stomatological manifestations in HIV-positive patients is inversely proportional to the degree of immunosuppression (CD4+ cell depletion), but directly proportional to the viremia (viral load). It is therefore suggested that the stomatological evaluation of the patient may provide important information that might subsidize the estimation of disease progression.