Background: Variability in CD4 T-cell counts has been described for both healthy and HIV-infected persons. It may influence decisions with respect to initiation and monitoring of antiretroviral treatment.
Objective: to measure the effect of timing of blood sampling for blood cell count measurement.
Method: The study population consisted of 71 Ethiopian patients in an observational cohort, either being monitored prior to HAART (n = 40) or receiving HAART (n = 31) at an ART Clinic in Addis Ababa.
Result: The median CD4 count demonstrated significantly increasing trends from the morning (8 am) to the afternoon (4 pm), both for patients on HAART (increase of 137 CD4 cell/microl; p = 0.003) and for patients initiating HAART (increase of 56 CD4 cells/microl; p = 0.038). This trend was also observed for CD8+ and CD3+ T-lymphocytes, (initiating HAART p = 0.002 and p = 0.001; patients on HAART p = 0.015 and p = 0.004, respectively).
Conclusion: The implications of these findings are for the decision to start HAART or the decision to start prevention of opportunistic infections in Ethiopian patients on HAART.