Glomerular Filtration Rate among HIV/AIDS Patients at Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos

Abstract

Background : Accurate assessment of renal function is important in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients in order to adjust dosages of drugs excreted by the kidney. Furthermore, a number of commonly used antiretroviral drugs are potentially nephrotoxic. However, in most HIV clinics in Nigeria it is not known if there is preceding Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) estimation before patients are commenced on antiretroviral drugs. This prospective study estimates the GFR of HIV seropositive patients attending HIV clinics at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH). Methodology : One hundred and fifty HIV sero-positive patients from the HIV/AIDS clinics, and 75 control subjects from Medical Out-Patients Department (MOPD) of JUTH, who met the inclusion criteria, were recruited from April 2006 to December 2006. Seventy five of the HIV sero-positive patients had AIDS, while the remaining 75 HIV sero-positive patients constituted the Non AIDS group. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria were used in classifying the HIV sero-positive patients into two of the three groups. Twenty-four-hour urine collection as well as a blood sample from each patient in the study were taken for the determination of Creatinine Clearance and other relevant investigations. Results : Seventy-Five (50%) of the 150 HIV sero-positive patients had GFR of Conclusion : The rather high percentage of retroviral positive patients with GFR < 60mls/min identified in this study informs the opinion that prior to the commencement of anti-retroviral therapy it is desirable to have an assessment of the GFR of all patients.