Antiretrovirals and Co-Prescribed Drugs for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in a University Teaching Hospital; South West Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Background: Lifelong usage of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) put them among the most therapeutically risky drugs for clinically significant drug interactions (CSDIs). It is; therefore; essential to document the types of antiretroviral (ARV) and non-ARV drugs co-prescribed (CPD) for PLWHA in order to facilitate the assessment of clinical significance of their interactions. Objectives: To document the most commonly prescribed ARV drugs and CPD among PLWHA and to assess the frequency of prescriptions of the first; second and third lines ART regimen. Methods: All the prescriptions received between January 2009 and June 2014 totaling 22;458 from 500 patients registered in APIN clinic in 2009; were reviewed with a view to documenting the most and the least prescribed CPD and ARV drugs. Results: Zidovudine/lamivudine/nevirapine (AZT/3TC/NVP) (4996/9302; 53.71%) was the most commonly prescribed ART regimen followed by tenofovir/emtricitabine/efavirenz (TDF/FTC/EFV) (1468/9302; 15.78%)and zidovudine/lamivudine/efavirenz (AZT/3TC/EFV) (683/9302; 7.34%). Abacavir/lamivudine/saquinavir/ritonavir (ABC/3TC (SQV/RTV) (1/9302; 0.01%) was the least prescribed ART regimen. The first line ART regimens (8574/9302; 92.17%) were mostly prescribed; followed by the second line (698/9302; 9.5%). Cotrimoxazole (7546/9302; 81.12%) was the most common non-ARV drug co-prescribed with ART regimen; followed by multivitamin (433/9302; 4.65%) and rifampin (316/9302; 3.40%). Conclusion: Co-trimoxazole was the most commonly co-prescribed non-ARV drug. Zidovudine/ lamivudine/nevirapine was the most commonly prescribed ART regimen. Considering the wide range of non- ARV drugs co-prescribed with ART regimens in this study; evaluation of their potential interactions is hereby suggested