title: Effect of anti-tuberculosis drugs on hematological profiles of tuberculosis patients attending at University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tuberculosis (TB) treatment may present significant hematological disorder and some anti-TB drugs also have serious side effects. Although many other diseases may be reflected by the blood and its constituents, the abnormalities of red cells, white cells, platelets, and clotting factors are considered to be primary hematologic disorder as a result of tuberculosis treatment. The aim of this study was to determine hematological profiles of TB patients before and after intensive phase treatment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine hematological profiles of TB patients before and after intensive phase treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Smear positive new TB patients were recruited successively and socio-demographic characteristics were collected using pre-tested questionnaire. About 5 ml of venous blood was collected from each patient and the hematological profiles were determined using Mindry BC 3000 plus automated hematology analyzer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hematological profiles of TB patients showed statistically significant difference in hematocrit (38.5 % versus 35.7 %), hemoglobin (12.7 g/lversus11.8 g/l) and platelet (268 × 10(3)/μlversus239 × 10(3)/μl) values of patients before initiation of treatment and after completion of the intensive phase of tuberculosis treatment, respectively (P < 0.05). The red cell distribution width (RDW) of treatment naïve TB patients was by far lower (17.6 ± 7.09 %) than the corresponding RDW (31.9 ± 5.19 %) of intensive phase treatment completed patients. Among TB patients that had high platelet distribution width (PDW) (n = 11) before initiation of TB treatment, 10 demonstrated lower PDW values after completion of the intensive phase. There was no significant difference on total white blood cell count among TB patients before and after completion of the 2 month treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit and platelet count of the TB patients were significantly lowered after completion of the intensive phase of TB treatment. Significant variation of the RDW and PDW were also observed among treatment naïve and treatment completed patients. Hematological abnormalities resulted from TB treatment should be assessed continuously throughout the course of tuberculosis therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Immunohematology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS), University of Gondar (UOG), Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Eyuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kassa
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Immunohematology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS), University of Gondar (UOG), Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Bamlaku
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Enawgaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Aschalew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gelaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Baye
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gelaw
keywords: Anti-TB drugs; Haematological profile; Intensive phase; Tuberculosis