Dagmawi Mekonnin, Fanta Gashe
Background: Co-trimoxazole prophylaxis prolongs the survival and prevents opportunistic infections in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).The aim this study was to evaluate the use of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in people living with HIV/AIDS in Shenan Gibe Hospital, Ethiopia.
Methods: A retrospective cross sectional design was used to evaluate the use of co-trimoxazole for prophylaxis using patient medical records. The study included all the patients who were on co-trimoxazole during one year period starting from December 2012 to January, 2013.
Results: The majority of study patients (70.99%) were females, and most of them were in the agegroup of more than 14 years (86.45%). A total of 243 (96.83%) patients appropriately initiated co-trimoxazole of which almost half of them (47.52%) were in clinical stage three. Among patients who took inappropriate dose (3.59%), most of them (2.79%) were subjected to under dose drugs. Moreover, co-trimoxazole was used by 6.14% patients in spite of its contraindication, and drug interaction was documented in four patients who had been taking co-trimoxazole with zidovudine. The results also showed that seventy patients discontinued co-trimoxazole and the main reason stated for discontinuation was CD4count greater than 350 cells/mm3(57.33%). However, nine of these patients discontinued the therapy inappropriately.
Conclusion: The initiation and dose of co-trimoxazole therapy was almost found to be consistent with national guide line. However, co-trimoxazole was used in many patients even if it was contraindicated in these cases. Therefore, both the prescribers and pharmacists should strictly adhere to the guideline for co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in HIV/AIDS patients to promote rational drug use.
