Hematological profiles of visceral leishmaniasis patients before and after treatment of anti-leishmanial drugs at University of Gondar Hospital; Leishmania Research and Treatment Center Northwest, Ethiopia

摘要

Visceral?leshimaniasis?is a parasitic disease characterized by systemic infection of phagocytic cells and an intense inflammatory response. The progression of the disease or treatment may have an effect on hematological?parameters of these patients'. Thus, the current study sought to compare the?hematological?profiles of visceral leishmaniasis patients before and after treatment with anti-leishmaniasis drugs. An institutional-based retrospective cohort study was conducted among visceral leishmaniasis patients admitted to the University of Gondar comprehensive specialized referral hospital leishmaniasis research and treatment?centre?between September 2013 and August 2018.?Hematological?profiles were extracted from the laboratory registration book before and after treatment. Data were entered to Epi-info and exported to SPSS for analysis. Descriptive statistics were summarized using frequency and percentage to present with the table. The mean, standard deviation, median, and interquartile range were used to present the data. Furthermore, using the paired t-test and the Wilcoxon Signed rank test, the mean difference for normally and non-normally distributed data was compared. Spearman and Pearson correlation analysis were used to describe the relationship between?hematological?parameters and various variables. A P value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. With the exception of the absolute neutrophil count, all post-treatment?hematological?parameters show a significant increase when compared to pre-treatment levels. Prior to treatment, the prevalence of?anemia,?leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia was 85.5, 83.4, and 75.8%, respectively, whereas it was 58.3, 38.2, and 19.2% following treatment. Furthermore, parasite load was found to have a statistically significant negative correlation with?hematological?profiles, specifically with white blood cell and red blood cell parameters. According to our findings, patients with visceral leishmaniasis had improved?hematological?profiles after treatment. The effect of treatment on parasite proliferation and concentration within visceral organs, in which the parasite load could directly affect the patient's?hematological?profiles, may be associated with the change in?hematological?profiles.