Kingswell Mavuka*, Chikafuna Banda and Scott Matafwali
Introduction: Antiretroviral therapy has led to a rapid decrease in HIV related morbidity and mortality. However, most of the existing antiretroviral regimens have been established to cause adverse drug reactions, this problem is especially common in poor countries in which only cheap, and toxic drugs are available. Tenofovir Alafenamide+lamivudine+Dolutegravirs (TAFED) recently introduced in Zambia has little information concerning its associated adverse drug reactions. Hence, there is a need to assess the prevalence of adverse drug reactions due to this antiretroviral regimen. Generally, this study will assess the prevalence of adverse drug reactions and associated factors to antiretroviral therapy at Ndola teaching Hospital, Zambia. Inferences made from this study can be used to come up with better antiretroviral therapy with little or no adverse drug reactions in the future.
Methods: This was a hospital based retrospective cohort study and the target population was identified using a systematic random sampling technique in which the 13th record was obtained. The data was collected from the files of HIV-positive patients to determine the prevalence of adverse drug reactions and associated factors to ART from January 2019 to January 2022. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 26.
Results: A total of 356 files were reviewed and the prevalence of adverse drug reactions to antiretroviral therapy between January 2019 and January 2022 was approximately 62.1%. The common ADRS were general symptoms (43.4%), hypersensitivity reactions (27.6%), Peripheral neuropathy (11.8%), insomnia (8.1%), nephrotoxicity (5.9%), and anemia (3.2%). Among ART regimens only TLD (p-value <0.05) and TAFED (p-value<0.05) were associated with ADRS. Additionally, the time frame was also significantly associated with ADRS while age group and gender were not.
Conclusion: The prevalence of ADRS was calculated to be 62.1% and only ART regimens and time frames were significantly associated with ADRS. It was deduced that TAFED can cause adverse drug reactions; the common ones being general symptoms, hypersensitivity reactions, and respectively. Furthermore, those on TAFED had an approximately 2.6-fold increase in developing ADRS, while those on TLD had a 3.0-fold increase in developing ADRS.
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