2015/12/06 by Ejiji S Isa, Isa, Ejiji, Comfort A. Daniyam +3
Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Antiretroviral drugs #Efficacy #FOS: Health sciences #HIV Research and Treatment #HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions #HIV/AIDS drug development and treatment #HIV/AIDs #Infectious Diseases #Internal Medicine #Nigeria
paper · doi:10.60787/tnhj.v11i3.60
openalex publication_date 2015/12/06 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
Background: The proportion of persons who become infected with resistant strains of HIV may be increasing. We assessed the efficacy of first line anti-retroviral (ARV) regimens since they were first introduced in Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive prospective cohort study comparing baseline body mass index (BMI), CD+4 counts and viral load (VL) with those obtained at 6th month of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 300 HIV infected treatment-naive patients. Data were analysed with Epi-Info version 3. 3 software and a probability value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean BMI at baseline of 22.9±4.6 kg/m2 increased to 24.6±4.4 kg/m2 at 6th month of HAART. Therefore, the absolute increase in mean BMI was 1.7kg/m2 and was statistically significant p<0.05. The median CD4+ counts at baseline and at the end of the study shows counts of 127 cells/l and 236 cells/l respectively. This corresponds to a median increase of 109 cells/but was not statistically significant p=>0.05. When immunological response was measured as an increase from baseline of at least 50cells/l, the proportion of patients with CD4+ count increase = 50cells/l at the sixth month of HAART was 68%. The baseline median viral load was log10 4.90, log10(IQR 3.41-6.41) but became less than log10 2.60, log10(IQR 2.60-5.26) at 6th month of HAART. Hence, a median viral load reduction of at least log102.30 p<0.05 was achieved. Conclusion: This study supports the belief that using limited ARV regimens can result in acceptable treatment outcomes many years after they were first introduced