Wondifraw Baynes H, et al. – This study aimed at assessing the adverse effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on kidney and liver functions among HIV–infected patients presenting to the University of Gondar Hospital, Ethiopia. Findings revealed a high prevalence of nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity among patients who took HAAR. Stage 3 nephrotoxicity and Grade 2 hepatotoxicity had the highest incidences of the total toxicities, and the female gender was a risk factor for nephrotoxicity. Researchers recommended further prospective studies to determine the effect of HAART and contributing factors.

Methods

• From 2010 to 2015, researchers conducted an institution–based retrospective study on a subset of HIV–infected patients.
• They obtained data from the registration book of the University of Gondar Hospital antiretroviral clinic laboratory after checking the completeness of age, gender, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, and alanine aminotransferase level.
• Using SPSS version 20, they entered and analyzed the data.
• To determine associations, they performed descriptive statistics, chi–square test, one–way analysis of variance, and logistic regression.
• They considered P–value <0.05 as statistically significant.

Results

• This study included a total of 275 study subjects; 62.2% were females.
• The overall prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) before and after treatment was 3.6% and 11.7%, respectively.
• In this study, a majority of the CKD patients were in stage 3 for patients after treatment.
• Findings revealed an overall prevalence of hepatotoxicity of 6.5% and 16.7% before and after treatment, respectively.
• Grade 2 hepatotoxicity developed in 66.7% and 65.2% before and after treatment, respectively.
• The female gender was identified a risk factor for CKD in binary and multiple logistic regression analysis.