Anemia among HIV-Infected Patients Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy in South Africa: Improvement in Hemoglobin regardless of Degree of Immunosuppression and the Initiating ART Regimen

Table 1

Baseline characteristics among patients initiating first-line ART and the risk factors for incident anemia at the Themba Lethu Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa.

	Baseline characteristics				Risk factors for incident anaemia
	Overall (𝑛=10259)		Anaemia (𝑛=2647)		Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis
	No.	%	No.	%	cHR	95% CI	aHR	95% CI
Sex
Male	3904	38	738	18.9	1.00	Referent	1.00	Referent
Female	6355	62	1909	30	1.56	1.28–1.92	1.78	1.45–2.19
CD4 count (cells/mL)
0–49	3639	35.5	1206	33.1	1.79	1.23–2.59	1.72	1.18–2.52
50–199	5754	56.1	1298	22.6	1.15	0.80–1.66	1.17	0.89–1.68
>200	866	8.4	143	16.5	1.00	Referent	1.00	Referent
BMI (kg/m^2)
<18.5	2039	19.9	823	40.4	1.74	1.39–2.17	1.70	1.35–2.14
≥18.5	8220	80.1	1824	22.2	1.00	Referent	1.00	Referent
Age (years)
18–35	4483	43.7	1250	23.9	1.24	0.71–2.19	—	—
36–55	5397	52.6	1333	27.5	1.12	0.64–1.96	—	—
>55	379	3.7	64	13.1	1.00	Referent
WHO stage
I and II	5567	54.3	899	16.1	1.00	Referent	1.00	Referent
III and IV	4692	45.7	1748	37.2	1.40	1.16–1.68	1.24	1.02–1.51
ART regimen
d4T based	9937	96.9	7337	96.4	1.00	Referent	1.00	Referent
AZT based	322	3.1	275	3.6	2.03	1.39–2.96	2.19	1.50–3.20
TB diagnosis
No	8223	80.1	1833	22.3	1.00	Referent
Yes	2036	19.9	814	40	1.41	1.12–1.77	—	—

Abbreviations: cHR: crude hazard ratio, aHR: adjusted hazard ratio, HR: hazard ratio, 95% CI: 95% confidence interval, ART: antiretroviral therapy, Hb.: hemoglobin, BMI: body mass index, EFV: efavirenz, AZT: zidovudine, NVP: nevirapine, IQR: interquartile range, TB: Tuberculosis. 95% CI: 95% confidence interval; HR was estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models.