Ocular complications of human immunodeficiency virus infection in eastern china

To investigate ocular complications in patients with HIV/AIDS in eastern China during the time of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

Prospective study.

This study was carried out from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010. Recruited HIV/AIDS patients underwent a series of surveys and ophthalmologic and laboratory examinations (including CD4 level) at enrollment.

In this study, all 787 HIV/AIDS patients (1574 eyes) had a history of HAART. Of these patients, 28.72% (95% CI = 0.26-0.32) had a history of systemic disease and 26.30% (95% CI = 0.23-0.29) had ocular complications. Of these ocular complications, cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR) had the highest prevalence (10.6%, 83/787) and ocular microangiopathy had the second-highest prevalence (9.4%, 74/787). Among the patients with CMVR, 16.9% (14/83) suffered from immune recovery uveitis (IRU). Furthermore, 3.4% (27/787) of the recruited AIDS patients had neuro-ophthalmologic disorders. The mean logMAR visual acuity of the group with ocular complications was 0.47 ± 0.64, which was significantly different from the asymptomatic group (0.17 ± 0.39, P < .001). The median CD4 T-cell count of the group with ocular complications is 43 cells/μL, which was significantly different from the asymptomatic group (116.5 cells/μL, P < .001).

The study shows a high rate of treatable ocular complications among patients with HIV/AIDS in eastern China. HIV/AIDS treatment programs in China must be prepared to identify ocular complications and refer patients to the correct treatment facilities.