Comparison of clinical characteristics of amebic liver abscess in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected and non-HIV-infected patients.

Background and Purpose: Amebic liver abscess is an emerging parasitic disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Clinical characteristics of this disease have rarely been compared between patients with and without HIV infection.
Methods: This retrospective study included 24 patients who had been diagnosed with amebic liver abscess during a 17-year period. The demographics, clinical manifestations, radiographic findings, and outcomes were compared between HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected patients.
Results: Among 24 patients with amebic abscess, 8 were HIV-infected and 16 were non-HIV-infected. The mean (+/- standard deviation [SD]) age of HIV-infected patients was 41.0 +/- 11.3 years (range, 27-62 years), which was younger than that of the non-HIV-infected group (58.5 +/- 14.6 years; range, 27-77 years; p=0.01). Compared with non-HIV-infected controls, patients with HIV infection had lower white blood cell counts (median, 17.2 x 10(9)/L vs 10.4 x 10(9)/L; p=0.01), neutrophil/lymphocyte (N/L) ratio (median, 12.1 vs 2.7; p<0.01), total bilirubin (median, 42.7 micromol/L vs 13.7 micromol/L; p=0.02), blood urea nitrogen (median, 7.9 mmol/L vs 4.1 mmol/L; p=0.04), and creatinine (median, 114.9 micromol/L vs 88.4 micromol/L; p<0.01). On multivariate analysis, low N/L ratio remained a significant predictor for HIV infection (odds ratio, 0.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.264-0.912; p=0.024). No significant differences were observed in clinical manifestations, radiographic findings, and indirect hemagglutination titer between the 2 groups.
Conclusion: HIV-infected patients with amebic liver abscess tended to have a lower N/L ratio than non-HIV-infected comparators.