Immunological and CLINICAL PROGRESS of HIV-Infected PATIENTS On Highly ACTIVE Antiretroviral THERAPY In NORTH WEST Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The survival benefits of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV infected patients have been studied well in the developed world. In resource poor settings like Ethiopia such treatment was started only in 2003. As a result, the existing treatment guidelines and recommendations are based on data from the developed world. The Objective of this study was to determine the immunological and clinical progress in HIV/AIDS patents in one year data review of patients’ card who initiated on highly active antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia. A retrospective cohort study was done based on past medical records   of HIV/AIDS patients, using a structured data collection format. All patient cards of one year data with patients who initiated HAART form October 1, 2006 to November 30 2007 were included in the study. The data collected will be analyzed using SPSS for window version 16.0. The majority of the study population, 383 (64.2%), were prescribed zidovudine/lamivudine/neverapine (ZDV/3TC/NVP) regimen initially. Overall functional status change showed that ability to work increased by 31.5%, being ambulatory decreased by 93.4% and bed ridden status decreased by 80%. A total of 240 (46.9%) patients have showed functional status improvement. Average mean weight change of 5.9 kg (increment by 11.9%) was seen during a one year follow-up. The patients showed immunological change from 132.883 mean CD4/mm³ count to 335.87 mean CD4/mm³. From total study population, 492 (82.4%) present with different type of opportunistic infections (OIs) at start of therapy which dramatically dropped  to only  40 (6.7%) patient after one year of receiving HAART. Based on the result of the study, necessary conclusions and recommendations will be forwarded. 

Key Words: Clinical progress, HAART, Immunological progress, CD4 count