Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and lactate dehydrogenase for early diagnosis of AIDS patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to explore the value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in combination with routine blood tests, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and T-lymphocyte subsets for the early diagnosis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) combined with Talaromyces marneffei (TM) infection.Methods: A total of 166 confirmed AIDS patients were enrolled in this study. The observation group included 80 AIDS patients with TM infection, and the control group consisted of 86 AIDS patients with other complications. Regression analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive value of each index and the combination of these indexes for AIDS combined with TM infection using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.Results: NLR and LDH were significantly higher in patients in the observation group compared with those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in platelets, infantile granulocytes (IGM), and nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) between the 2 groups (P>0.05). The area under the operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the observed indicators were: NLR, 0.628; hemoglobin (HGB), 0.704; LDH, 0.607; lymphocyte (LYM) count, 0.744; CD4 + T lymphocyte count, 0.789; and CD8 + T lymphocyte count, 0.701. The combined AUC of multiple indicators was 0.815, with a sensitivity and specificity of 76.2% and 76.1%, respectively.Conclusions: NLR, HGB, LYM, LDH, and T lymphocyte subsets were diagnostic for early AIDS combined with TM infection , and CD4 + T lymphocytes had the best diagnostic efficacy alone.

Ultrasound characterization of superficial lymph nodes in HIV patients with Talaromyces marneffei infection

“…In HIV patients, the quantity of CD4 + T cell can reflect the body’s immunity because it is the major target cell of HIV. Clinical researchers found that the majority of T.marneffei -infected HIV patients had less than 50 CD4 + T cell counts ( 26 ), and it had certain diagnostic efficacy for early AIDS combined with the T.marneffei infection ( 27 ). The same result was found in this study, with CD4 + T cell counts less than 200, 100, and 50 cells/μL in 23 (92%), 21 (84%), and 20 (80%) patients, respectively.…”