Hematological complications and quality of life in hospitalized AIDS patients

The relationships among the biological and physiological indicators of cyto penias in AIDS and measures of quality of life are not well characterized. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to determine the relationships a mong anemia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia and characteristics of the in dividual, physiological markers, symptoms, functional status, general healt h perceptions, and well-being in people with AIDS. The five dimensions of t he Wilson and Cleary model of health-related quality of life provided the c onceptual model for this study. In addition to descriptive statistics, logi stic regression was used to analyze clusters of variables. The sample of 14 6 hospitalized patients with AIDS had an 85% prevalence of anemia, a 53% pr evalence neutropenia and a 33% prevalence of thrombocytopenia. The mean age was 38 years old, 19% were female, 35% were white, 27% had a history of in jection drug use and the mean T-helper cell count was 74 mm(3). The five di mensions of the Wilson and Cleary model offered significant predictability for anemia only. Patients with higher symptom scores were more likely to ha ve treatable anemia, defined as a hematocrit of <30%. Treatable anemia was also associated with lower self-care scores and lower T-helper cells. Fifty -four percent of the cohort were candidates for colony stimulating factors, while only 17% of those eligible received them. These data suggest subopti mal treatment of anemia and neutropenia in this cohort of AIDS patients.