Study of Serum Albumin Level in Subjects with HIV Infection, in Relation to CD 4 Count, as a Marker of Immune Suppression

Abstract

Introduction: HIV/AIDS Infection is one of the commonly encountered illness in our setup. It causes morbidity and mortality worldwide, and the number of HIV-infected patients has increased dramatically in the past decade. Current study aimed to record serum albumin level in patients suffering from HIV infection. Material and methods: A total of 175 subjects were studied over a period of 3 months. History and examination were done according to the proforma after taking written informed consent. Routine investigations included CD 4 Count and LFT. All data were entered in the master chart and analysed using SPSS Version 20 software Results: Out of 175 subjects majority were in age group of 41 to 50 years (30.4%) with mean age around 42 years and 101 subjects were males (57.7%). Low serum albumin was found in 67.2% of subjects. 12% of the subjects had CD 4 Count of less than 100 and among subjects with CD 4 Count of less than 100, 76% of the subjects had low serum albumin which was statistically significant with p value of 0.003. Conclusion: From the study can conclude that in HIV /AIDS patients serum albumin levels correlate with CD 4 counts and can be used as a marker of immune suppression.