Prescription pattern of first line haart regimen among treatment naïve HIV-infected adults and adolescents at a tertiary hospital in north eastern Nigeria.

Abstract

Rational prescription of Highly Active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) have dramatically altered the natural progression of human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, and significantly improved the quality of life for many patients infected with the virus. OBJECTIVE: this study is aimed at analyzing   the HAART prescribing patterns in newly recruited adult HAART – naïve patients at a tertiary hospital. METHODS: This is a non-experimental, quantitative retrospective review of 638 initial proscriptions of first line HAART for newly recruited adults and adolescents (>15years) between January, 2011 and December, 2012 .it University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) in northeast of Nigeria. Prescription decisions were analyzed using Chi-square lest and p value < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 392 (61.40%) of the studied sample were females while 246 (38.6%) were males. The moan age and baseline CD4 count were 36.21±9.27 and 193,82±151.13 cells/µl respectively. The most commonly prescribe HAART regimen were Emtricitabine/Tenoforvir/efavirenz, (FTC/TDF/EFV) {220 (34.5%)] and Lamivudine/zidovudine/Nevarapine(3TC/AZT/NVP) [202 (31.7%)]. Most of the patients (90.9%) with Tb at initials HAART were prescribed with 3TC/TDF – based HAART. However, 6 (20%) of the patients with Hb ≤ 7 had AZT-based regiment. CONCLUSION: Generally, Prescriptions of HAART were consistent with the recommended preferences by National guidelines for treatment of non-pregnant HAART naive Adult and adolescent patients; however, prescriptions of Zidovudine oriented regiment were non-adherent to recommendation in patients with baseline- severe anaemia (Hb ≤ 7) continuous education on treatment guideline recommendations should be emplaced.