Abstract

The duration of macrocytosis after stopping zidovudine (ZDV) is unknown. Among 104 HIV-infected patients treated with ZDV for more than 1 year, 84 patients had macrocytosis at ZDV discontinuation. The median mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was 114.6 fL (range 100-128 fL). Patients were divided into 2 groups: those who did (resolved macrocytosis, n = 36) and did not (persistent macrocytosis, n = 48) normalize MCV at 3 to 6 months after ZDV discontinuation. Alcohol use (P = .02), smoking (P = .03), and lower (but within normal range) folic acid levels (P = .05) were related to the persistence of macrocytosis. A persistence of macrocytosis was observed in 57% at 3 to 6 months, 38% at 1 year and 37% at 2 years after ZDV therapy had stopped. Duration of ZDV therapy did not have an effect on the persistence of macrocytosis (P = .73). The median time for the MCV to normalize after stopping ZDV was 12.5 months.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2017

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, v. 16, issue 5, p. 512-515.

© The Author(s) 2017

Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care publishes manuscripts under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license (CC BY NC 4.0), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1177/2325957417702486

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