COMPARATIVE CLINICAL OUTCOME STUDIES OF NEVIRAPINE AND EFAVIRENZ BASED HAART REGIMEN IN A SECONDARY HEALTHCARE FACILITY, NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA
Pev M1 and Usifoh SF2*
- Pharmacy Department, Hospitals Management Board Shendam Road, Lafia, Nasarawa State
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, University of Benin, Edo State
Afr. J Pharm Res Dev; Volume 11(1): 043-048 ; 2019
ABSTRACT
Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/ADS) has become a pandemic with the sub-Sahara Africa being the worst hit. This study evaluated patient retention in care, reported changes in CD4 counts and compared the changes in CD4 count for patients on Nevirapine and Efavirenz based anti-retroviral regimens in HIV/AIDS naive patients in a Secondary Health Facility in Nasarawa state, Nigeria. A retrospective cross sectional study of HIV/AIDS patients in care was done, systematic random sampling of 379 patient case folders and data on changes in CD4 count and patients’ retention in care were collected after ethical approval and patients informed consent obtained. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. About 88.4% of the patients were aged between 20 to 49 years, 71% are female, 73.6% of the patients were married and 13.4% had tertiary education. Also, 60.9% of the patients were actively in care while 27.4% were loss to follow up. The patients’ retention rate was 76.11% for Nevirapine and 77.27% for Efavirenz. There were significant comparable changes in CD4 counts among patients on both regimens; P-value 0.414 at 12 months and 0.06 at 24 months. Nevirapine and Efavirenz regimens have high patient retention and changes in CD4 counts were good and found to be statistically insignificantly for the two regimens in antiretroviral therapy naïve patients.
Email of correspondence:sfusifoh@uniben.edu
KEYWORDS: CD4 Counts, Nevirapine, Efavirenz, Clinical Outcomes, Patient Retention