Abstract
Background. The main objective was to determine the impact of herbal drug use on adverse drug reactions in patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Methodology. Patients receiving first-line ART from the national roll-out program participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants were interviewed and a data collection sheet was used to collect information from the corresponding medical record. Results. The majority (98.2%) of participants were using at least one herbal drug together with ART. The most common herbal remedies used were Allium Sativum (72.7%), Bidens pilosa (66.0%), Eucalyptus globulus (52.3%), Moringa oleifera (44.1%), Lippia javanica (36.3%), and Peltoforum africanum (34.3%). Two indigenous herbs, Musakavakadzi (OR = 0.25; 95% CI 0.076–0.828) and Peltoforum africanum (OR = 0.495; 95% CI 0.292–0.839) reduced the occurrence of adverse drug events. Conclusions. The use of herbal drugs is high in the HIV-infected population and there is need for pharmacovigilance programs to recognize the role they play in altering ADR profiles.
Highlights
Several challenges exist in resource-limited settings between balancing the cost and toxicity that occurs during antiretroviral therapy (ART)
The use of herbal drugs is high in the HIV-infected population and there is need for pharmacovigilance programs to recognize the role they play in altering adverse drug reactions (ADRs) profiles
Typical examples of ART in these settings include the World Health Organization prequalified fixed-dose combinations of stavudine/lamivudine/nevirapine (D4T/3TC/NVP) and zidovudine/lamivudine/nevirapine (AZT/3TC/NVP), which are being widely promoted in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) “scale-up” programs
Summary
Several challenges exist in resource-limited settings between balancing the cost and toxicity that occurs during antiretroviral therapy (ART). Most HIV-infected patients in resourcelimited settings receive a first-line triple combination of lamivudine, nevirapine, and stavudine or zidovudine [1]. The most commonly evaluated regimen in Sub-Saharan Africa is the D4T/3TC/NVP combination and this has been associated with various rates of ADRs in different settings [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. The main objective was to determine the impact of herbal drug use on adverse drug reactions in patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). The use of herbal drugs is high in the HIV-infected population and there is need for pharmacovigilance programs to recognize the role they play in altering ADR profiles
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
