Comparative study of cd4+t cell counts at 6 and 24 hours of sample collection at abuth, Zaria, arv treatment center

Background: CD4 +T cell counts are useful in the staging and monitoring of response to therapy in the management of HIV!AIDS. In our set-up, determination of CD4 +T cell counts cannot constantly be guaranteed on the same day of blood sample collection due to many factors. study was therefore carried out to compare possible variations In CD4+T cell counts at different times. Methods: Manual Dynabeads methods of CD4+T cell counts were used to determine CD4+T cell counts at 6 and 24 hours after blood sample collection. Results were analysed by the use of SPSS version 1 software. Results: 142 patients' blood samples were anlyzed. Age of patients ranged from 26-53 (mean 37 yrs). Sixty-two (43.7%) were males while 80(56.3%) werefemales. CD4+T cell counts ranged from 80-060 cells/ul at 6hours with a mean of 212 cell/ul and standard d eviation of 135 , while CD4 +T cell counts after 24 hours ranged from 67-987 cells/ul with a mean of 213 cells/ul and a standard deviation of 146. Conclusions: No signature variations were noted in CD4 +T cells counted using the Dynabeads method at 6 hours or within 24 hours of sample collection. CD4 +T cell counts on samples collected between 66 or 24 hours can therefore serve in the evaluation and monitoring of HIV/AIDS patients in our setting.