Oumar AA, Maiga M, Dembele JP, Djibril N, Sangho F, Konate I, Kone Y , Guida
L, Tulkens PM, Dao S
Adverse neurological events due to antiretroviral therapy in Mali
International Journal of Research in Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapeutics
(2015) 4:455-459
ABSTRACT
Introduction
Adverse neurological events during antiretroviral treatment (ART) are frequent
and various1-3. Their diagnosis
is difficult in developing countries where human resources and infrastructures
are most of the time lacking.
Aim
To identify the frequency of neurological side effects in patients under ART
in Mali
Methods
We performed a prospective cohort study on patients developing neurological
symptoms in a period of 12
months at the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Teaching Hospital Point
G of Bamako, Mali.
Neurological diagnostic was established with the guidance of a neurologist.
WHOs sides effects table has been
used to characterize and classify the side effects4. Analysis of data was performed
with SPSS Software, version
12.0.
Results
A total of 420 HIV seropositive patients under ART have been followed. Of those,
37 cases were found with
adverse neurological events (8.08%). The sex ratio M/F was 1.06 and. the mean
age was 41.2 years. Of the side
effects, polyneuritis alone represented 83.8% of the cases, and polyneuritis
associated to vertigo, headache and
depression represented the remaining 16.2 %. We didnt notice any these
neurological symptoms at the initiation
of the ART. The majority of the patients was infected by HIV-1 (91.9 %). Most
of the patients, 89.2% were
treated with a fixed dose combination of Triomune® (D4T+3TC +Nevirapine).
Five cases were at 3rd stage of
WHO classification (13.5%), which justified stopping the treatment with d4T.
Conclusions
The use of Triomune® led to neurological adverse events in Mali. Any further
new antiretroviral regimens must
include a pharmacovigilance to detect eventual neurological side effects.
Keywords: Adverse neurological events, Pharmacovigilance, Antiretroviral therapy,
Mali