Incidence of Hepatotoxicity in Iranian Patients With HIV on Antiretroviral Therapies and Its Correlation with Virologic Response to HIV Treatment

Abstract

Abstract Objective To investigate hepatotoxicity in Iranian patients with HIV to assess the association between virologic response to HIV treatment and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Methods This study was conducted with 200 control patients, 75 patients with HIV naïve to antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 443 patients who received ARTs with virologic response (≤1000 copies/mL) or virologic treatment failure (>1000 copies/mL). Serum ALT level and HIV viral load were determined in all patients. Results Patient ALT levels were significantly higher than those of control patients (45.1 ± 44.4 IU/L vs 23.8 ± 5.4 IU/L). Compared to patients who were ART-naïve, patients with ART experience had significantly higher ALT levels (38.2 ± 26.2 IU/L vs 46.3 ± 46.7 IU/L), and severe hepatotoxicity was only detected in those with ART experience (8 patients, 1.8%). Mean ALT had no significant difference between virologic response/failure groups. The ALT activity and HIV load had a negative correlation coefficient, but it was not significant. Conclusion Periodic monitoring for the possibility of hepatotoxicity is highly recommended in all patients with HIV, especially in those receiving ART treatment.