SHORT COMMUNICATION


Modification of Initial Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) Regimen in Paediatric HIV Patients



Yee Shan Low1, Farida Islahudin1, *, Kamarul Azahar Mohd Razali2, Shafnah Adnan2
1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2 Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Pahang, 50586 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


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Creative Commons License
© 2018 Low et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Tel: 6(03) 92897689; E-mail: faridaislahudin@yahoo.com


Abstract

Background:

Treatment options among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected children are limited as only a few Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) are approved worldwide for paediatric use. Among children, frequent changes in HAART regimen can rapidly exhaust treatment options, and information addressing this issue is scarce.

Objective:

The aim of the study was to determine factors associated with the modification of initial HAART regimen modification among HIV-infected children.

Method:

A retrospective study was performed among HIV-infected children aged 18 and below, that received HAART for at least six months in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. Factors associated with modification of initial HAART regimen were investigated.

Results:

Out of 99 patients, 71.1% (n=71) required initial HAART regime modification. The most common reason for HAART modification was treatment failure (n=39, 54.9%). Other reasons included drug toxicity (n=14, 19.7%), change to fixed-dose products (n=11, 15.5%), product discontinuation (n=4, 5.6%) and intolerable taste (n=3, 4.2%). The overall mean time retention on initial HAART before regimen modification was 3.32 year ± 2.24 years (95% CI, 2.79–3.85). Patient's adherence was the only factor associated with initial regimen modification in this study. Participants with poor adherence showed a five-fold risk of having their initial HAART regimen modified compared to those with good adherence (adjusted OR [95% CI], 5.250 [1.614 – 17.076], p = 0.006).

Conclusion:

Poor adherence was significantly associated with initial regimen modification, intervention to improve patient's adherence is necessary to prevent multiple regimen modification among HIV-infected children.

Keywords: Paediatric, HIV, Regimen modification, Highly active antiretroviral therapy, HAART, Malaysia, Intolerable taste.