Objective:

identifying the most common OIs and determining their relationship with the CD4+ lymphocyte count (CD4+TL) can improve our clinical practice and facilitate early diagnosis, the use of empiric treatments and prompt targeted treatment.

Materials and methods:

an observational, retrospective study aimed at describing the characteristics and variations of the OIs diagnosed clinically, using direct or indirect methods, which occur in patients with HIV (related to their CD4+TL count) who are admitted to a tertiary care center in Cali, Colombia. Adult patients hospitalized from January 2018 to January 2019 with a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS and a history or current diagnosis of OI were included. Individuals under the age of 18 and pregnant women were excluded.

Results:

a sample of 190 patients with at least one opportunistic infection was obtained, of whom 65.3% were men with a median age of 37 years (29.0-46.0), and the rest were women with a median age of 35.5 years (31.2-43.0). Eighty-three percent had a C3 classification on admission, 86% with a CD4+TL count ≤ 200 cells/mm3. The most frequent OIs included tuberculosis, with 28.4%, pneumocystosis with 27.9% and toxoplasmosis with 27.4%.

Conclusions:

in our population, despite advances in and greater availability of highly-effective antiretroviral therapy, most patients with HIV are hospitalized in advanced stages with opportunistic infections, in some cases with two or more concomitant infections, and with evidence of severe virological and immunological involvement. (Acta Med Colomb 2022; 48. DOI:https://doi.org/10.36104/amc.2023.2327).

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