Tropical Doctor > Volume 39, Number 2 > Pp. 83-85

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Iron, folate and vitamin B12 parameters in HIV-1 infected patients with anaemia in southern Brazil

Luísa Castro MSc     Luciano Z Goldani PhD MD   

Section of Infectious Diseases, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Correspondence to: Dr Luciano Z Goldani, Hospital das Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Ramiro Barcelos 2350, Porto Alegre RS 90035-003, Brazil Email: Lgoldani{at}ufrgs.br

We conducted a study to determine the role of iron, folate and vitamin B12 in HIV-infected patients with anaemia attending a tertiary-care hospital in southern Brazil. Low serum folate levels were found in 14 (41%) HIV-infected patients; parameters of iron deficiency such as low transferring saturation index and ferritin in 10 (30%); and combined folate and iron deficiency in five (14%). Vitamin B12 deficiency was found in only two (6%) patients who presented with mean corpuscular volumes within the normal range. Our study has shown that folate and iron deficiency were frequently detected in HIV-infected patients at our institution, and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of anaemia in all HIV-infected patients independent of their HIV stage of progression.

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