FREQUENCY OF COMMON COMPLICATIONS OF ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH ACQUIRED IMMUNODEFICIENCY SYNDROME

Objective: To determine the frequency of common complications of Anti-retroviralTherapy (ART) in Acquired
Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients.
Material And Methods: This study was conducted in Department of Medicine, PGMI/LRH Peshawar. Duration of the
study was one year (from 1st 2012 to 30th January 2013). Total 62 patients of either gender of all ages were enrolled in
this descriptive cross-sectional study using Consecutive (non-probability) samplingtechnique fulfilling the inclusion criteria
of All patients with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) being diagnosed and confirmed on laboratory test of
HIV-RNA PCR, Patients having stage III disease (according to WHO guidelines) and having CD4 count between < 350.
Results: In this study mean age was 36 years with standard deviation as ± 8.9 years. Seventy percent patients were
male and 30% were female. Fifteen percent patients had skin rash, 23% patients had dyslipidaemia and 26% patients
had drug inducehepatitis.
Conclusion: Complications are common with antiretroviral therapy used for treatment of AIDS. Complications are
more common in male patients as compare to female. Drug induced hepatitis is the leading complication followed by
dyslipidaemia and Skin rash
Key words: Antiretroviral therapy, Complications, AIDS.