Patient-Reported Adverse Effects Associated with Combination Antiretroviral Therapy and Coadministered Enzyme-Inducing Antiepileptic Drugs

Melissa A. Elafros Department of Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland.

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Gretchen L. Birbeck Department of Neurology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.
Epilepsy Care Team, Chikankata Hospital, Mazabuka, Zambia.

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Joseph C. Gardiner Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

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Omar K. Siddiqi Global Neurology Program, Division of Neuroimmunology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia.

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Izukanji Sikazwe Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.

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Nigel Paneth Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

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Christopher M. Bositis Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Lawrence, Massachusetts.

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Jason F. Okulicz Infectious Disease Service, San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas.

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Concurrent treatment with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and an enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drug (EI-AED) is common in resource-limited settings; however, the incidence and impact of adverse effects in cotreated patients is largely unknown. Symptoms of adverse effects were assessed by both spontaneous report and checklist for 145 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected Zambian adults initiating various treatment combinations, such as cART with an EI-AED (N = 20), cART only (N = 43), or neither drug (untreated; N = 82). At study baseline, the cART + EI-AED group reported more headache, generalized fatigue, problems with concentration, and depression than the untreated group (P < 0.01 for all). At 2 weeks, a greater proportion of cART + EI-AED participants reported increased nausea or vomiting compared with baseline (P < 0.05). Adverse effects did not appear to impact self-reported adherence at 2 weeks as 100% cART adherence was reported in 19 of 20 (95%) and 42 of 43 (98%) cART + EI-AED and cART-only participants, respectively; 100% EI-AED adherence was reported in 19 of 20 (95%) participants. However, adherence at 6 months was suboptimal in both groups with 18 of 33 (56%) participants on cART experiencing greater than 1-week lapse in pharmacy-reported medication supply. Our results highlight the need to educate patients about the increased potential for nausea and vomiting with cART + EI-AED cotreatment. Although adherence was high early during treatment, adherence should be reinforced overtime to minimize the potential for HIV and/or epilepsy treatment failure.

Author Notes

* Address correspondence to Melissa A. Elafros, Department of Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 4940 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224. E-mail: melafro1@jhmi.edu

Financial support: The project described was supported by the Fogarty International Center and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) under award 1R21NS073509. Melissa A. Elafros was supported in part by an MD/PhD Fellowship from Spectrum Health, the AMA Foundation, and the Lois C. Walker Endowed Fund for Student Research at the College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University. Omar K. Siddiqi was supported by an American Academy of Neurology Clinical Research Fellowship. Gretchen L. Birbeck, Omar K. Siddiqi, and Izukanji Sikazwe received a grant (1R21NS073509) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for this work. Omar K. Siddiqi received a Clinical Research Training Fellowship for work related to this manuscript.

Authors' addresses: Melissa A. Elafros, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, E-mail: melafro1@jhmi.edu. Gretchen L. Birbeck, Strong Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, E-mail: gretchen_birbeck@urmc.rochester.edu. Joseph C. Gardiner and Nigel Paneth, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, E-mails: jgardiner@epi.msu.edu and paneth@epi.msu.edu. Omar K. Siddiqi, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, E-mail: osiddiqi@bidmc.harvard.edu. Izukanji Sikazwe, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia, E-mail: izukanji.sikazwe@cidrz.org. Christopher M. Bositis, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Lawrence, MA, E-mail: cbositis@glfhc.org. Jason F. Okulicz, Infectious Disease Service, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX, E-mail: jason.okulicz@amedd.army.mil.

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