Incidence and Risk Factors of Combined-Antiretroviral Therapy-Induced Hepatotoxicity among HIV Patients at the Bali District Hospital, Cameroon

Introduction The incidence of hepatotoxicity is life-threatening and can result to an end-stage liver disease in long-term patients on combined antiretroviral therapy (cART). Our study sought to evaluate the incidence and predictors of cART-induced hepatotoxicity (CIH) among long term users on cART in a rural District hospital. Methods This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study in the Bali District Hospital. Spectrophotometric method was use for the quantitative measurement of alanine-aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate-aminotransferase (AST) levels. Patients with elevations of both ALT and AST were considered CIH. The Chi (χ2) square test, ANOVA and Kaplan Meier log-ranked/ survival analyses were used to analyse the data. Results Of the 350 participants enrolled [156 (44.6%) males and 194 (55.4%) females], aged 43.87 ± 0.79 years (range 20 – 84 years) included in this analysis, 26 (4.4%) experienced moderate CIH. We observed 57 (16.3%), 62 (17.7%) and 238 (68%) elevated levels ALT + AST, ALT and AST respectively. Two independent predictive factors of CIH were, the male sex and alcoholism during the study period. Conclusion The prevalence of CIH in HIV-infected patients in Bali was lower than that observed in previous studies. The duration of therapy had no influence on the frequency of CIH. Alcoholism and smoking showed significant differences in the development of CIH. * 3TC : Lamivudine, 95% C.I : 95% Confidence Interval AIDS : Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ALT : Alanine Amino Transferase ARV : Antiretroviral Therapy AST : Aspartate Amino Transferase AZT : Zidovudine cART : Combined Antiretroviral Therapy CIH : cART-Induced Hepatotoxicity CD4+ : Cluster of Differentiation-4+ cells EFV : Efavirenz HR : Hazard Ratio HA : Health Area HAART : Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy HIV : Human Immunodeficiency Virus N(NRTI) : Non (Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor) OR : Odds Ratio p : Significance value VL : Viral Load WHO : World Health Organisation χ 2 : Chi square.