Comparison of the efficacy and safety of 2 different antiretroviral regimens in tertiary care hospital: A retrospective observational study

Background: Highly active retroviral therapy has reduced the morbidity and mortality of HIV infection. Although many regimens have reduced the plasma virus load in patients, there are many cases of long-term toxicity, adverse effects, and drug resistance. Aims and Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety between combination of stavudine lamivudine nevirapine (SLN) and stavudine lamivudine efavirenz (SLE) (antiretroviral regimens) in tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in the anti-retroviral therapy (ART) center of CG Hospital, a tertiary care center at Davangere. Data were collected for the duration of 12 months (June 2012 to May 2013). The study was conducted after obtaining the permission from the institutional ethical committee and incharge officer. Prescriptions of the patients were collected, and relevant information was entered in the preformed pro forma and analyzed. Results: In total of 144 cases, 94 patients received combination therapy of SLN whereas 50 patients received combination therapy of SLE. To compare the baseline parameters such as CD4 counts, weight and hemoglobin with post-treatment values Dunn’s multiple comparison test was applied. To compare the changes in the parameters between the 2 therapies unpaired t-test was applied. There was a statistically significant improvement in CD4 counts in both the therapies but between group comparisons showed no statistical difference, inspite of clinical improvement more pronounced in patients receiving SLN combination. Hemoglobin levels have improved significantly post therapy in both the groups. Conclusion: In this study, there was clinically significant improvement in all the parameters considered for analyses in patients receiving SLN compared to SLE therapy but fails to show statistical significance.