A prospective, observational cohort study to elicit adverse effects of antiretroviral agents in a remote resource-restricted tribal population of Chhattisgarh

Objective : To assess the adverse effects of antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and its adherence in HIV-infected patients, in remote and tribal area with restricted resources.
Materials and Methods : This was a prospective, observational study carried out at Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Jagdalpur. A set of questions were asked and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were recorded for every patient.
Results : 79 HIV positive patients were analyzed. Among them, 68 (86%) had at least one ADR. The mean ADR per patient was 1.64 (±1.09). The most common ADR in our study was peripheral neuropathy (20.83%), followed by skin rashes (15.83%). Twenty-one patients (26.58%) had severe (grade-3 and grade-4) ADRs. Female patients had more ADRs (45.71%) than males (11.36%); severe ADRs had a statistically significant positive correlation with sex and CD4 cell count of the patients.
Conclusion : In spite of high ADRs, HAART is the only answer to HIV/AIDS; thus, management requires a highly precise balance between benefits of durable HIV suppression and the risks of drug toxicity to achieve the therapeutic goals, with conventional drugs or with newer less toxic agents.

Keywords
Highly affective antiretroviral therapy, antiretroviral therapy, adverse drug reaction, antitubercular treatment