Impact of serious adverse drug reactions on the quality of life of patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria: a four-year retrospective study.

ABSTRACTSerious adverse drug reactions (sADRs) have a serious impact on the progress being made in providing antiretroviral therapy. The presence of HIV/AIDS and its complications associated with sADRs, has a negative effect on the quality of life (QoL) of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). This was a descriptive retrospective cohort study of 400 adult HIV patients in which the QoL of PLWHA with sADRs was compared to patients that did not experience ADR who had been on antiretroviral therapy (ART) was followed up for 48 months using the WHOQOL-HIV BREF to measure QoL. Out of 400 patients, 373 (93.25%) respondents completed the study with an overall mean age was 40.8 years (SD ± 8.64). One hundred and ninety-nine patients (53.4%) reported to have experiencing sADR. The response consistently showed significantly higher mean scores in the QoL of patients who had no ADRs in the psychological, social and environments state of health domains compared to those who had ADRs with mean scores (P = 0.000, 0.037 and 0.028), respectively. This study revealed significantly higher scores in patients who had no ADRs compared to those who had ADRs. Low QoL due to serious ADR may add additional burden to HIV disease and complications, and the related discrimination often faced by PLWHA. This study would help clinicians pay serious attention to identifying and promptly managing ADR.