Antiretrovirals and co-prescribed drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in a university teaching hospital, south west Nigeria
Sulaimon A. Akanmu Sikiru O. Usman , Ibrahim A. Oreagba , Oluwatoyin E. Agbaje , Kazeem Oshikoya, Abideen A. Ganiyu and Oluwatoyin O. Opanuga .
1Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos.
2APIN Clinic, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idiaraba, Lagos, Nigeria
3Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics & Toxicology, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos
4West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria
5National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control
6Department of Pharmacology, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.
Corresponding Author: Usman Sikiru
E-mail: susman@unilag.edu.ng Phone : +2347066263713
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.
Keywords: Co-prescribed drugs, HIV treatment regimen, antiretrovirals, non-antiretrovirals