Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) related kidney disease is one of the leading causes of death and affects predominantly people of black descent. Data is unavailable on the presence of kidney disease amongst HIV positive patients in Cameroon and a high prevalence of the disease depicts a high incidence of HIV associated nephropathy. A cohort study was carried out from May to August 2010 at the Nylon District Hospital Douala to investigate the Kidney function trends amongst seropositive individuals. Kidney function tests like serum urea, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, proteinuria and urine chemistry was measured amongst 329 participants amongst whom 100 (30.4%) were HIV negative and 229 (69.6%) were HIV positive. The age range of the study population was 18 to 60 years, with mean age of 35.122 ± 0.543. There were 94(28.6%) males and 235 (71.5%) females. The percentage of HIV seropositivity was higher in females than in males (74.3% vs. 25.7% p < 0.05).Although, Serum creatinine, creatinine clearance and proteinuria were significantly higher in the control group than in the HIV infected subjects (p < 0.0001, p = 0.046 and p = 0.001, respectively), these values were not indicative of renal pathology. Considering only HIV positive individuals the mean serum creatinine was significantly higher in the Antiretoviral treatment (ART) naïve group when compared to those who were already on ART. These findings indicate that renal function is not affected by the seropositivity status of individuals.

Key words: Kidney function, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome(HIV/AIDS) seropositivity, Cameroon.