Adverse Drug Reaction Reports in an Antiretroviral Treatment Centre in Jos, North Central Nigeria

Background: Reports of adverse drug reactions (ADR) in the era of increasing uptake of antiretroviral drugs particularly in Sub Saharan Africa and especially in Nigeria have been on the rise.
Aim: We set out to collate and characterize the pattern of adverse drug reactions in patients on antiretroviral drugs in our treatment centre.
Study Design: Retrospective Cross sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the APIN Centre, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria from July 2010 to December 2012.
Methodology: We reviewed the case files and data base entries of 215 patients attending our treatment centre. These are patients who had reported cases of adverse drug reactions. We took note of demographic profiles of the patients, the medical history as well as the different types of antiretroviral drugs the patients were taking. The types of adverse drug reactions and offending drugs were noted and categorized using descriptive statistics.
Results: Out of 215 case files and databases of patients in which there were reports of adverse drug reactions, 80 (37.2%) were male and 135 (62.8%) were female. Almost thirty two percent (31.6%) of the patients were on Zidovudine/Lamivudine/Nevirapine (AZT/3TC/NVP), 14.9%on Zidovudine/Lamivudine/Tenofovir/Lopinavir/ritonavir (AZT/3TC/TDF/LPV/r), 13.5% on Stavudine/Lamivudine/Nevirapine (D4T/3TC/NVP). Anemia was the most common ADR representing 23.4% of all ADRs and 29.3% of all ADRs were associated with Zidovudine.
Conclusion: Our study shows that in antiretroviral treatment centre such as our own, healthcare providers/practitioners should take particular note of troubling adverse drug reactions such as anaemia. Healthcare providers/practitioners should particularly have in place alternative treatment regimens as these adverse drug reactions may be potential cause of medication non adherence which in the long run lead to treatment failure.