Table 2.
Laboratory results at baseline, by HIV status. Within-group results are expressed as median [IQR] for continuous characteristics and N (%) for categorical characteristics. Groups are compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests.
| Overall (n=469) |
HIV+ (n=239) |
HIV− (n=230) |
p value | # missing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haemoglobin (g/dL) | 9.10 [1.9] | 9.00 [1.85] | 9.10 [1.98] | 0.09 | 0 |
| 5.4–7.9 | 95 (20%) | 54 (23%) | 41 (18%) | ||
| 8.0–9.9 | 248 (53%) | 130 (54%) | 118 (53%) | ||
| 10.0–14.1 | 126 (27%) | 55 (23%) | 71 (31%) | ||
| Iron (μg/L) | 6.00 [9.7] | 5.80 [8.10] | 6.60 [14.4] | 0.24 | 28 |
| Ferritin (ng/mL) | 12.0 [15.0] | 11.5 [12.2] | 14.0 [19.0] | 0.24 | 30 |
| Ferritin < 50 ng/mL | 400 (91%) | 207 (91%) | 193 (92%) | ||
| Ferritin < 25 ng/mL | 334 (84%) | 179 (86%) | 155 (80%) | ||
| Transferrin (mg/L) | 4.27 [0.95] | 4.20 [1.09] | 4.31 [0.84] | 0.02 | 27 |
| Transferrin saturation (%) | 5.0 [12.0] | 5.0 [10.0] | 6.0 [15.0] | 0.35 | 28 |
| Haptoglobin (g/L) | 1.06 [0.60] | 1.07 [0.57] | 1.08 [0.63] | 0.26 | 74 |
| RBC folate (μmol/L) | 3.16 [1.46] | 2.84 [1.32] | 3.35 [1.56] | 0.001 | 151 |
| C-reactive protein (mg/L) | 6.00 [7.50] | 7.00 [9.00] | 5.00 [6.00] | <0.001 | 30 |
| CRP>5 (n(%)) | 112 (25%) | 54 (24%) | 58 (27%) | 0.51 | |
| Reticulocyte haemoglobin (CHR; pg) | 26.4 [6.17] | 26.6 [5.83] | 25.6 [6.90] | 0.06 | 83 |
Normal ranges: Iron: 9–30.4 umol/L; Transferrin: 2.5–3.8 g/L; Transferrin saturation: 15–50%; Haptoglobin: 0.3–2 g/L; RBC folate: 1426–3294 nmol/L; CRP normal < 10% but we present >5% as per Weyers et al.5 ; CHR: range not reported but analogous to mean corpuscular haemoglobin range of 27–32 pg.