A drug dosage table is a useful tool to facilitate prescriptions of antiretroviral drugs for children in Thailand

Abstract

Summary: Scaling up of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for children in countries like Thailand will require decentralization and management by non-specialist doctors. We describe (a) the formulation of a standardized drug dosage table to facilitate antiretroviral drug (ARV) prescriptions for children, (b) the acceptability of such a table among doctors and (c) the safety and efficacy of drug doses in the table.Acceptability was assessed using a questionnaire. Safety and efficacy were assessed on the basis of incidence of adverse effects and virological response to treatment, respectively.Of all doctors (n ¼ 18), 17 (94%) found that the table was practical to use, avoided miscalculations and made them more confident with prescriptions. Of 49 children prescribed ARVs, less than 5% had adverse side-effects. All ARV-naïve children achieved undetectable viral loads within six months of ART.In our setting, a standardized drug dosage table provided a simple and reliable tool that facilitated ARV prescriptions for children.

Effectiveness of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-Positive Children: Evaluation at 12 Months in a Routine Program in Cambodia

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Irrational Anti-Retroviral Therapy Prescription among Children Under 15 Years in Eastern Uganda

“…Attention must be paid to age, weight bands, CD4 counts and history of Prevention to Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) uptake, WHO staging as well as co-infections like Tuberculosis (TB). With all these factors to consider, there is considerable room for error [16][17][18].…”

Evaluasi Jumlah Sel T-CD4 dan Berat Badan Anak dengan HIV/AIDS yang Mendapatkan Anti Retro Virus Lini Pertama di Rumah Sakit Dr. Saiful Anwar Malang

“…Committee on Pediatric AIDS dari AAP (American association of pediatrics) menyatakan terdapat beberapa kendala dalam pengelolaan HIV/AIDS anak yang perlu diperbaiki yaitu keterbatasan diagnosis terutama untuk PCR yang relatif mahal untuk negara berkembang/ miskin, sarana perawatan kurang memadai, pemenuhan kebutuhan nutrisi, masalah formulasi, dosis, serta ketersediaan obat ARV. 19,20 Kendala yang diungkapkan oleh komite tersebut juga menjadi kendala kami seperti diagnosis (khususnya PCR) dan formulasi obat (jenis dan jumlah ARV tertentu terbatas terutama dalam bentuk FDC fixed drug combination). Saat ini Departemen Kesehatan RI sedang mengupayakan distribusi formulasi FDC dan mengembangkan sistem roda dosis (dosing wheel) untuk memudahkan penulisan/peresepan obat.…”