Prevalence of Anaemia and Pulmonary Mycoses in Immunocompromised Subjects: A Review of Nigeria Perspective

Abstract

Anaemia and mycoses are being diagnosed with increasing frequency among immuno-compromised subjects. Fungal respiratory infections are important causes of mortality and morbidity among immuno-compromised individuals. The goal of this research was to systematically review the prevalence of anaemia and mycoses among immuno-compromised subjects in Nigeria based on published articles. We reviewed a total of 23 studies published between 2009 and 2021 comprising retrospective studies, cross-sectional studies and case reports. The overall prevalence of anaemia in this study was between 16.2%-75.5% while mycoses prevalence was between 8.7-73.6% among immuno-compromised subjects in reviewed Nigerian populations. This study revealed that the prevalence of anaemia in South-South, South-East and Abuja (North Central Nigeria) were between 47.4%-73.5%, 44.6%-75.5% and 16.2% respectively among immuno-compromised HIV/AIDS and/or TB co-infections. The prevalence of mycoses in South-South, South-East, Western Nigeria and Northern Nigeria were between 25.3%-36%, 22.4%-52.5%, 8.7-33% and 12.7%-73.6% respectively among immuno-compromised subjects. This study confirm that anaemia and mycoses are common among immuno-compromised subjects in Nigeria; with pulmonary mycoses and low CD4 being important risk factors.

Hematological Profile Of Hiv/Aids Individuals With Opportunistic Respiratory Mycoses And Immune Status: A Cross Sectional Study In Uyo Nigeria

“…The most common cytopenia observed in our study was anaemia (47.8%) and in India, anaemia was between 38.8% -84.0% (Parinitha and Kulkarni, 2012), 46.6%-48.6% in China (Bhardwaj et al, 2020) and 47.4% -73.5% among immunocompromised subjects in South-South Nigeria (Akpan and Umoyen, 2022). The variation in the prevalence of anaemia among different populations may be due to malnutrition and non-adherent to medical treatments.…”

“…The weakening of immunity maybe due to HIV infection (Vaswani et al, 2022), drugs and opportunistic pulmonary infections (Udeani et al, 2018;Sani et al, 2020;Akpan and Umoyen, 2022). Researchers have reported high prevalence of anaemia and thrombocytopenia in asymptomatic HIV positive patients (Parinitha and Kulkarni, 2012;Ekeng et al, 2022).…”

“…Researchers have reported high prevalence of anaemia and thrombocytopenia in asymptomatic HIV positive patients (Parinitha and Kulkarni, 2012;Ekeng et al, 2022). Hematological malignancies are common clinical conditions in Nigeria and HIV infections are common with 33% (Junior et al, 2017;Bergamasco et al, 2021;Akpan and Umoyen, 2022;Ekeng et al, 2022). Untreated HIV infections lower CD 4 cells count; leading to opportunistic infections because of weak immunity (Servais et al, 2001).…”

“…Opportunistic pulmonary infections with and malignancies in HIV/AIDS also contributes to the development of cytopenias; include red blood cells lymphocytes, monocytes, and macrophages (Kyeyune et al, 2014;Gunda et al, 2017). Several studies have revealed anaemia as the commonest cytopenia among HIV-infected individuals (De Santis et al, 2011;Harding et al, 2020;Akpan and Umoyen, 2022), making hemoglobin an important biomarker of prognosis (De Santis et al, 2011;Nardo et al, 2012;Harding et al, 2020). Leucopenia and lymphopenia are known to raise the occurrence of opportunistic respiratory infections while neutropenia may allow HIV individuals to be susceptible to infections (Parinitha and Kulkarni, 2012;Udeani et al, 2018;Ekeng et al, 2022).…”