PHARMACOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN PATIENTS RECEIVING INITIAL ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY:
AN APPROACH IN SECONDARY HEALTH CARE
SARAH DE CARVALHO FREITAS ALVES1,6, KARLA DO NASCIMENTO MAGALHÃES1,2; HENRY PABLO
LOPES CAMPOS E REIS1,6, MARAIZA ALVES TEIXEIRA1,5,6, NADIR KLEIR3,5,6, DAVID WOODS4,5,6, LUZIA
IZABEL MESQUITA MOREIRA DA SILVA1,6, ANGELA MARIA DE SOUZA PONCIANO1,6, MARTA MARIA DE
FRANÇA FONTELES1,5,6
1Universidade
Federal do Ceará (UFC); 2Centro de Especialidades Médicas José de Alencar (CEMJA); 3Qatar University;
Otago
University;
4
5Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Inovação Farmacêutica (INCT_if); 6Centro de Estudos
em Atenção Farmacêutica (CEATENF)
Since AIDS was discovered, many advances have been made to have a better understanding of its therapeutic
management. This work aimed at investigating pharmacological problems related to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV
positive (HIV +ve) patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART) attending a Medical Specialties Center (José de
Alencar) in Fortaleza-Ceará, Brazil. Patient recruited in this descriptive and prospective study acted as their own controls,
and data collection took place in the period from December 2008 to August 2010, using Dáder method for
pharmacotherapy follow up. Pharmacological problems (PP) related to antiretroviral therapy were identified and classified
according to an adapted version of the 2nd Consensus of Granada. The data were analyzed with Epi Info and Sigma Plot
programs, setting the significance level at p <0.05. Of the 47 interviews conducted, 45 patients completed the follow
up. A total of 643 PP related to antiretroviral drugs were identified. PP-5 (category: qualitative security) was the most
prominent problem, followed by PP-4 (category: quantitative effectiveness) and PP-1 (category: patients knowledge about
the drug therapy). The most frequently prescribed antiretroviral drugs were Zidovudine + Lamivudine, Lopinavir +
Ritonavir and Efavirenz and were also the most problematic in terms of safety and effectiveness. Our findings suggest that
the main obstacles and difficulties experienced by HIV+ve patients on ART are related to adverse drug reactions, which
contributed to poor adherence to treatment in the secondary health care environment.
The study received financial support from UFC; CNPq; INCT_if.