Electrolyte and renal status of HIV seropositive individuals on ART: a short-term follow-up study.

Abstract

The study was designed to assess the renal and electrolyte status of HIV seropositive subjects during antiretroviral therapy follow up for 4 months. For this study, 20 HIV seropositive subjects were randomly recruited before commencement of anti-retroviral therapy and followed-up into 4 months of anti-retroviral therapy. Blood samples were collected before and bi-monthly during anti-retroviral therapy. The result of the present study showed that before anti-retroviral therapy, the serum levels of potassium and bicarbonate were the only electrolytes that showed significant increase compared with corresponding values in the control subjects (p<0.05 in each case). However, the serum concentrations of urea and creatinine were consistently raised in the HIV seropositive subjects before and during the ART compared with values observed in the control subjects (P<0.05 in each case). The findings of the present study suggest impaired kidney functions in HIV seropositive subjects with no immediate improvement within
4 months of ART.