title: Establishment of T-lymphocyte subset reference intervals in a healthy adult population in Chennai, India.
abstract: Estimation of CD4+ T-lymphocytes continues to be an important aspect for monitoring HIV disease progression and response to antiretroviral therapy. Most of the diagnostic laboratories often rely on western text books for CD4+ T-lymphocyte reference values, which could, often be unreliable for usage in local settings. Therefore, we attempted to establish the reference values for T-lymphocyte subsets among healthy adults in a cross-sectional study carried out at the YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE) in Chennai, south India, in 213 (84 female and 129 male) healthy, HIV-1/2 seronegative adults as volunteers. Whole blood specimens were processed for CD4+, CD8+ T-lymphocyte estimation and haematological parameters. The established range of CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts for men and women were 383-1347 cells/microl (mean 865 and median 845 cells/microl) and 448-1593 cells/microl (mean 1021 and median 954 cells/microl), respectively. Women had significantly higher absolute CD4+ Tlymphocyte counts (P<0.001) and CD4+:CD8+ T-lymphocyte ratio as compared to men. The established normal range of CD4+ T-lymphocyte % was 21-59 (mean 40.2 and median 40.1). The influence of age was not observed in any of the parameters except CD4+/CD8+ T-lymphocyte ratio with the >45 yr age group. Further studies with greater sample size may be required to define the staging of HIV disease in relation to the normal CD4 T-lymphocyte count in the general population.
authors.affiliation: YRG Centre for AIDS Research & Education, Voluntary Health Services Hospital Campus Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Chennai India. murugavel@yrgcare.org
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Murugavel
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balakrishnan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mohanakrishnan
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Shankar
authors.forename: Sandeep Pulimi
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Muthu Sundaram
authors.forename: Nagalingeswaran
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumarasamy
authors.forename: Estelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piwowar-Manning
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Livant
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Thyagarajan
authors.forename: Suniti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Solomon
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002452:Cell Count / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology*