Antiretroviral therapy in children: Indian experience.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of reports on Highly Active Antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in children. We studied feasibility and effectiveness fixed dose combination (FDC) of lamivudine, nevirapine and stavudine in HIV infected children. DESIGN: Interventional study. SETTING: A Tertiary care center. SUBJECTS: Twenty five consecutive HIV positive antiretroviral naive children older than 18 months. METHODS: The study subjects were started on weight-appropriate doses of the FDC and followed up for 6 months. Weight, CD4 counts, absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) and number of episodes of illness were assessed before and after HAART. Adherence and barriers to adherence were studied. RESULTS: Mean weight increased from 15.2 to 16.8 kg (P < 0.001) while mean CD4 counts increased from 488/cmm to 765/cmm (P < 0.001). Only 2 cases of drug associated adverse event were encountered. Improvement in Center for Disease Control (CDC) immunological classification of the subjects was significant while that in World Health Organization (WHO) clinical staging was not statistically significant. Follow up visits were 95% of the expected 175 visits. The average distance traveled by the patient for every visit was 72 km (one way). CONCLUSIONS: Use of FDC in weight specific dosages is feasible and effective for treatment of Pediatric HIV in resource scarce setting. These preliminary results need to be tested in a different setting.