INTRODUCTION: AIDS is a disease caused by HIV that compromises the organism's immune system. The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has promoted substantial improvement in the prognosis for this disease and in HIV/AIDS patients' quality of life. During prolonged treatment, certain hematological disorders are observed, such as anemia and macrocytosis, as well as deficiencies of micronutrient such as vitamin B12 and folic acid. The objective of this study was to correlate the presence of macrocytosis and anemia with HAART use or vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiencies. METHODS: 110 HIV-positive patients were included, in three groups: HAART use with zidovudine (AZT) (group 1), HAART use without AZT (group 2) and no HAART (group 3). RESULTS: None of the patients in any of the three groups presented statistically significant differences relating to hemoglobin level (p = 0.584) or folic acid level (p = 0.956). Group 1 (G1) had a higher mean corpuscular volume (MCV) than G3 (p < 0.05), and group 2 (G2) had a higher volume than group 3 (G3) (p < 0.001). Vitamin B12 levels in G1 and G3 were smaller than those in G2 (p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that patients undergoing HAART treatment presented macrocytosis, even though this could not be correlated with the type of HAART or with vitamin B12 deficiency. However, folic acid deficiency was unrelated to either HAART or macrocytosis.
AIDS; Vitamin B12; Folic acid; Macrocytic anemia; Highly active antiretroviral therapy
