Abstract
Background: Human Immunodeficiency Virus remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy, many people with this disease still present with its ocular complications. Cataracts remain the commonest reason for blindness in Nigeria and globally. The prevalence of HIV infection among cataract patients in south east Nigeria has remained unknown. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus among cataract patients in south east Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The case files of all who had cataract surgery between September 1st, 2020 to March 31st, 2021 at City of Refuge Specialist Eye Clinic Onitsha, Nigeria was obtained from the Medical Record Department of the hospital to extract relevant information and demographic data. The outcome measures included the prevalence of HIV, as well as the gender and the age of affected cataract patients. Data was analyzed using SPSS 26.0 IBM Corporation. Fisher’s exact test was performed for categorical data, and Student’s t-test was applied to continuous variables depending on their distribution. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In this study, 423 participants who underwent cataract surgery were included for analysis of which 16 were HIV positive. The overall seroprevalence of HIV among the study population was 3.78% with HIV prevalence showing the female to male ratio of 1:1. Up to 70.81% of the patients were at least 60 years of age. Although there was a statistically significant difference between the prevalence of HIV and seasonal presentation (p=0.015), there was no statistically significant relationship between the participants age and gender (p=0.195), prevalence of HIV and the participants’ age categories (p=0.149) or participants’ settlements (p=0.219). Conclusion: The prevalence of HIV among cataract patients in this study was 3.78%. This study confirms that HIV infections are an important public problem among cataract patients in Nigeria. Our findings draw attention to the significant burden HIV has on cataract surgery in Nigeria. We recommend advocacy for the national policymakers to initiate HIV tests in routine ophthalmology services.
Highlights
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in sub-Saharan Africa [1]
In this study, 423 participants who underwent cataract surgery were included for analysis of which 16 were HIV positive
This study confirms that HIV infections are an important public problem among cataract patients in Nigeria
Summary
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. The prevalence of HIV infection is affected by many factors and varies from country to country and even within the same country. Some of these factors affecting HIV prevalence include religious beliefs, cultural practices, access to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), poor urban dwelling, malnutrition and having multiple sexual partners [4]. Human Immunodeficiency Virus remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in subSaharan Africa. The prevalence of HIV infection among cataract patients in south east Nigeria has remained unknown
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