Changes in Some Hematological Parameters of Female Patients on Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course (DOTS) in a Tuberculosis Hospital in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

<strong>ABSTRACT </strong> <strong>Introduction</strong>: Tuberculosis disease remains a health challenge globally. Anti-TB drugs are not completely free from side effects. <strong>Objective</strong>; This study was aimed at determining the effect/s of first and second line Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) therapy on the selected hematological parameters of female TB infected patients. <strong>Materials and methods</strong>. The longitudinal study involved 198 female subjects attending a TB hospital in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. AFB test was done using Zeihl-Neelson technique, ESR by the westerngreen method and hematological parameters analyzed with the Abacus 380 Hematology Autoanalyzer. ANOVA was used to compare the mean values and SPSS version 20.00 was employed to analyze the data. <strong>Results</strong>: Results from the study indicate that there was significant difference in most parameters when control values were compared with that of the newly infected TB subjects. They include; WBC (p=0.0001), RBC (p=0.0001), HB (p=0.0001), PCV (p=0.0001) and ESR (p=0.0001). On the post-hoc involving control/second line treatment subjects, five items yielded insignificant values; WBC, RBC, PCV, HB and MCH. <strong>Conclusion</strong>: While our study showed that TB disease significantly affected all the parameters, there was a real improvement in the treatment stage as all parameters were returning back to normal values. This suggests that as time progresses absolute normalization can occur. It is inferred from this that the DOTS chemotherapy has no negative effect on the hematopoietic process. We therefore suggest further studies that will look into the plasma components of patients undergoing DOTS chemotherapy.