Immunological outcomes of neverapin (NVP) versus efafrenz (EFV) based antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen among children on ART: A study from Black Lion Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Antiretroviral therapy has reduced HIV-related morbidity and mortality substantially. WHO recommends the use of Nevirapine or Efavirenz as first line combined with two from nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. In this study the immunological outcomes of Neverapin versus Efafrenz based ART was assessed. Medical records of patients were retrieved and important variables were captured to standard questionnaire. Medical records of 120 patients from NVP-based regimen and 60 patients from EFV groups were revised. The CD4 cell count at the start of HAART ranged from 3-2003 cell/ml with an inter quartile range (IQR) of 231-317 cell/ml among NVP group. And among patients taking EFV based ART regimen, baseline CD4 count ranged 13-2095 cell/ml with an IQR range of 250-345 cell/ml. After six months of HAART, the CD4 cell count of NVP based regimen range from 71-2300 c/ml with IQR of 458-612 c/ml, and mean CD4 cell count difference of 215, 95% CI (175.414-245.613). From EFV based group, CD4 count ranged from 65-2100 c/ml with IQR of 435-605 c/ml, and the mean CD4 cell count difference of 205, 95% CI (155.404-235.623). The immunological recovery was found to be comparable among the two groups. Advanced clinical stage of the disease, severe immune suppression, presence of anemia, presence of chronic diarrhea , poor weight gain during first six months of ART were adversely affected the trends of CD4 recovery. This research report demonstrated that immunological outcomes were comparable among patient taking NVP vs EFV based ART regimen.