Effects of the antiretroviral therapy among the people living with HIV/AIDS at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu.

Thesis Report.

SUMMARY: The study was cross-sectional descriptive to assess the effects of ART on the clients taking ART from the ART center at TUTH. The study identified the socio-demographic factors,information related to the OIs, knowledge of the participants about the positive and negative effects of the ART.The study basically collected information about the opportunistic infections like TB,Dysentry,Abscess and the status of the CD4 cells count before and after 6 months of ART was find out among the research participants. Socio-demographic findings revealed that 30% of the participants belong to 33-37 age group, whereas the least 1% of the participants was found in the age groups 53-57, 63-67 and 68 and above. The minimum age of the participant was 18 years whereas the maximum age was 68 years.78% of the participants were literate whereas 22% of the participants were illiterate. The highest number of the participants was from Chhetri caste which accounted 39% of the total participants whereas Newar were least with 13%. The study showed that 64% of the participants were married whereas 20% of the participants were never married,2% of them were divorced and remaining 14% were widower. Male participants were higher than the female participants in this study.Total of 65% male participants participated in the study whereas 35% of the participants were female. Participants who follow Hindu religion were 81% ,Buddhist were 14% and Christian were the least with 5% of the total respondents. Out of the total 100 respondents the maximum number of the respondents i.e 27% were working in certain organizations, whereas 22%of the participants had business as their main occupation,the least number of participants were having occupation in the bank with 1% of the total participants in the study. Monthly income of the total participants showed varied trend with 42% of the total participants having monthly income more than NRS 13000,whereas 2% of the respondents had monthly income NRS 1000-3000,on the other hand 15% of the respondents had no monthly income. The study illustrates that the number the participants were from Kathmandu Valley with more than 70% of the total participants whereas other participants were mostly from western development regions and central development regions districts. Most of the clients were not suffering from TB(73%),on the other hand 27% of the research participants were suffering from TB as opportunistic infection. The same was the case with Dysentery most of the clients were not suffering from Dysentery(99%),on the other hand 1% of the research participants were suffering from Dysentery as opportunistic infection.27% of the research participants were suffering from Pneumonia. 15% of the participants suffered from Hepatitis. The findings of this study revealed that the most of the participants of this study were at stage III of AIDS categorized by WHO which shared a total of 50% among all the research participants whereas 32% of the participants were at stage II of AIDS,3% of the participants were found in stage I remaining 15% of the participants were found in stage IV of AIDS. The study revealed that 39% of the research participants were having CD4 cell count between 100-200 cells per cubic mm of blood,32% of the participants had CD4 cells less than 100,and only 2% of the participants had CD4 cells above 600 before the initiation of the ART. Highest number of the research participants reported they had experienced the negative effects of ART like Anemia,vomiting,and diarrhea.37% of the total participants reported they had Anemia after taking ART,same number of participants also reported they had experienced vomiting after taking ART,on the other had 30% of the participants experienced Diarrhoea after taking ART. Concerning about the positive effects of the ART more than 60% experienced energetic after taking ART,45% experienced bettersleep,67% felt happier after taking ART whereas 45% experienced better appetite after taking ART. Regarding the time of initiation of ART after the HIV diagnosis more than 30% of the participants reported that they started ART in less than 2 weeks time after they were diagnosed with HIV,18% of the participants reported they initiated ART between 2-4 weeks of the HIV diagnosis,more than 27 % of the participants started ART after one year of HIV diagnosis. Fluctuations were seen in the weight of the participants before the initiation of the ART.34% of the participants had their body weight between 41-50 kg,32% of the participants had their body weight between 51-60 kg,17% of the participants had their body weight 61-70 kg,only 3% of the participants had their body weight between 71-80 kg,13% of the participants had their body weight 30-40 kg whereas only 1% had their body weight above 80 kg. Significant increase in the body weight was seen among the participants after 6 months of ART was taken by them. More than 32% of the participants had their body weight between 51-60 kg,29% of the participants had their body weight between 61-70 kg,26% of the participants had their body weight between 41-50 kg,5% of the participants had their body weight between 71-80 kg,4% of the participants had their body weight between 30-40 kg, and only 1% of the participants had their body weight above 80 kg.