2 research outputs found
Prevalence of Liver Damage in Patients Under Antiretroviral Therapy at Gitwe District Hospital
No full textBackground: The emergence of liver diseases as one of the major causes of death in people infected with HIV has paralleled the introduction of more effective antiretroviral therapies. More than 60% of the prescribed drugs are cleared in the liver, and hepatic injury is the most frequent cause of drug discontinuation in clinical trials. Thus, it is not surprising that all ART drugs have some risk of hepatotoxicity, which varies depending on the specific characteristics of the drugs. Measuring liver enzymes is the most common way of determining hepatotoxicity. HIV and antiretroviral medications both cause abnormalities in liver enzymes. Antiretroviral (ARV) medications harm liver cells either directly or through their active metabolites
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of liver damage in patients exposed to antiretroviral therapy at Gitwe District Hospital.
Materials and methods: Retrospective study was conducted in 212 HIV patients attending GITWE District Hospital, Southern province, Rwanda from 2023-2024. Patients under HAART with valid liver function test results for alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were included.
Results: Among 212 patients included in the study, from 2023 to 2024, 24(11.32%) presented mild, moderate, and severe liver damage. Very few severe cases 4(1.9%) were observed, Normal female and male represented high percentage among the patients: 116(54.5%) and 72(34.0%) respectively.
Conclusions: Mild and moderate liver damage were present in HIV patients; Severe liver damage were rare 4(1.9%) in all patients but many of the patients showed normal liver function. The effort made by health care providers in regular monitoring of hepatotoxicity among HIV-infected patients and advising patient to moderate alcohol consumption must be supported in order to avoid severe liver damage and other health complications.
Keywords: HIV, antiretroviral Therapy, liver enzyme elevation, Prevalenc
Assessment of Renal Insufficiency among Patients under Anti-retroviral Therapy at Gitwe District Hospital
No full textBackground: Several antiretroviral agents (ARVs) are associated with chronic renal impairment. Renal insufficiency is poor function of the kidneys that may be due to a reduction in blood-flow to the kidneys caused by renal artery disease. Globally the prevalence of renal insufficiency, defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, among Adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) ranges between 3% - 7%.
Aim: This study aims to determine the Prevalence of Renal Insufficiency among Patients under Antiretroviral Therapy at Gitwe District Hospital.
Methodology: An institution-based retrospective study was conducted from 2023 to 2024 on a subset of HIV-infected patients. Data were collected from the register book of patients under antiretroviral therapy attending Gitwe District Hospital.
Results: After data analysis, the findings have shown that the majority of patients 68(46.9%) were with moderate renal insufficiency, 53(36.6%) were with mild renal insufficiency, 20(13.8%) were with normal kidney function and 4(2.8%) were with severe renal insufficiency.
Conclusion: Moderate and mild renal insufficiency have a high prevalence among patients exposed to antiretroviral therapy at Gitwe District Hospital. Severe renal insufficiency was observed to be reduced in HIV Patients exposed to ART. Normal kidney cases were few compared to renal insufficiency cases. Further studies are recommended to determine the need of drinking water in prevention of progression from mild and moderate to severe renal insufficiency.
Keywords: Renal insufficiency, Antiretroviral Therapy, HIV
