Prevalence and correlates of anemia in a large cohort of HIV-infected women: Women's interagency HIV study

Anemia is a common manifestation of HIV infection, occurring in aproximatel y 30% of patients with asymptomatic infection and in as many as 75% to 80% of those with AIDS. Anemia has been associated with decreased quality of li fe and decreased survival. We performed a cross-sectional study nested with in a multicenter prospective cohort study to describe the prevalence of ane mia in 2056 HIV-infected and 569 HIV-negative women as well as to define th e demographic, clinical, immunologic, and virologic correlates of anemia am ong HIV-infected women. A total of 37% of HIV-positive women and 17% of HIV -negative women had hemoglobin levels < 12 g/dl (p <.001). Factors associat ed with anemia in HIV-positive and HIV-negative women included mean corpusc ular volume (MCV) < <80 fl (p < .001) and black race (p <.001). Among HIV-i nfected women, multivariate logistic analyses revealed that African America n race (p < .0001), MCV < 80 fl (p < .0001), CD3 count < 200 per microliter (p < .0001), higher HIV RNA in plasma (p = .02), current use of ZDV (p = . 01), and history of clinical AIDS (p = .004) were all independent predictor s of anemia. These data indicate that worsening parameters of HIV disease a re associated with anemia among HIV-infected women. Black women and women w ith Low MCV values are at increased risk for anemia independent of HIV stat us.