Ocular impairments increase as CD4 counts decrease in Nigerian HIV/AIDS patients

Optom Vis Sci. 2010;87(12):979-984.

Ocular defects tend to increase in Nigerian HIV/AIDS patients as their CD4 T-cell counts decrease, a study found.

The prospective study examined 40 HIV/AIDS positive patients and 40 control subjects, categorizing them into three age groups: 21 to 30 years, 31 to 40 years and 41 to 50 years. Visual acuity, refraction, ophthalmoscope and slit lamp examinations were all performed.

Patients between 21 and 30 years were most affected; however, a statistically significant difference between the three age groups was not shown for those with CD4 cell counts from 499 to 0.

Of the HIV patients, 39 (97.5%) had refractive errors and 10 (25%) had reduced vision. Of the 10 patients with reduced vision, seven had moderate vision with CD4 T-cell counts between 499 and 0 and one patient had severely low vision with a CD4 T-cell count between 299 and 200, according to the study.

While numerous ocular symptoms manifested in patients with CD4 counts between 499 and 0, disc edema (30%), cloudy media (22.5%), poor pupillary light reflexes (17.5%), choroidoretinitis (15%), retinal exudates (15%), Kaposi sarcoma (12.5%), uveitis (7.5%), conjunctivitis (7.5%), herpes zoster ophthalmicus (7.5%) and ocular toxoplasmosis (5%) were most prevalent.

The investigators also noted that visual acuity was significantly different among control subjects and HIV/AIDS patients (P < .05).