OBJECTIVES: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) linked to antiretroviral therapy (ART) can outweigh their benefits thereby compromising patients’ quality of life (QoL). This study evaluated ADRs and QoL of HIV patients assessing care at public secondary hospitals in Ilorin, Nigeria.

METHODS:

This multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted from January to July 2022. Based on Fisher formula, a sample size of 310 was obtained and allocated proportionally to each hospital. Eligible HIV patients’ ADRs were assessed using structured questionnaire adapted from National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control form for reporting ADRs. Relevant sociodemographic, clinical and treatment data were abstracted from patients’ medical folders using appropriately designed data abstraction forms while QoL was assessed using WHOQOL HIV-Bref. Quantitative data analyses involved descriptive and inferential statistics. Level of significance was set at P<0.05. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from an Institutional Ethical Review Committee (ERC/MOH/2021/10/009).

RESULTS: Majority of the study participants were on Tenofovir/lamivudine/dolutegravir, (90.3%). Prevalence of ADR was 34.5%. Only 27.5% of the patients on Tenofovir/lamivudine/dolutegravir had ADRs while patients on other treatment regimens had 100% ADRs. More than half of the patients had mild ADRs, involving mostly the central and peripheral nervous system and headache was the most frequent ADR. Overall QoL score was 80.3%, highest QoL score was obtained in the physical domain (86.4±4.2) while the least QoL score was in the environment domain (60.1±3). Age, gender and ADRs experienced by the study participants were statistically associated with all domains of QoL (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: ADRs affected the QoL of HIV patients. Thus, HIV patients should be placed on ART regimens with minimal ADRs in line with HIV treatment guidelines in order to maintain and improve patients’ QoL.