Rameshwar Mahaseth¹*, Sanjeet Jha², Lalbabu Sah Telee³, Mahesh Mahaseth⁴, Digbijay Thakur⁴ and Bimal Sah⁵

¹Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Provincial Hospital, MIHS, Janakpur, Nepal
²Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Provincial Hospital, MIHS, Janakpur, Nepal
³Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics, Nepal Commerce Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
⁴Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Provincial Hospital, MIHS, Janakpur, Nepal
⁵Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Provincial Hospital, MIHS, Janakpur, Nepal

*Corresponding Author: Rameshwar Mahaseth, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Provincial Hospital, MIHS, Janakpur, Nepal.

Received: January 21, 2025; Published: March 12, 2025

Abstract

Background: Dolutegravir (DTG)-based triple therapy is becoming a new paradigm for both the initiation and maintenance of HIV treatment over the Efavirenz (EFV)-based regimen for people living with HIV/AIDS. We sought to determine the changes in viral load suppression among patients treated for 3 yrs at ART Center, Provincial Hospital, Janakpur, MIHS, Nepal.

Objective: Our study aimed to evaluate and compare the virological suppression in DTG versus EFV-based regimen for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment in Provincial Hospital, Janakpur.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study including people living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) who were transitioned to Tenofovir/Lamivudine/Dolutegravir, previously on Tenofovir/Lamivudine/Efavirenz regimen for at least 12 months and who had their viral load test done before transition. This analysis is divided into two groups’ namely Dolutegravir (DTG) and Efavirenz (EFV)-based regimen. There are altogether 224 patients in each regimen before and after the use of DTG-based regimen for three years from June 1^st 2019 to May 30^th 2023. Out of 224 Patients, no of Males, Females, and Trans-genders(TG) are 101, 117, and 6 respectively. Among them, 45.02% are males, 52.23% female and 2.67% TG. The medical records of patients were reviewed from records available at the antiretroviral therapy (ART) center of Janakpur Provincial Hospital. Patients were virologically assessed for 48 weeks in each of 3 years.

Results: Two hundred twenty four people living with HIV/AIDS who transitioned to a DTG-based regimen previously on EFV-based regimen for at least 12 months were included in this study. The majority of the patients (81.70%)%) had suppressed viral load of fewer than 50 copies/mL before the switch. Following the transition, 91.52% of the patients had suppressed viral load of fewer than 50 copies/mL.

Conclusion: Dolutegravir-based antiretroviral regimen led to low or undetectable viral load following a switch from Efavirenz-based regimen.

 Keywords: Antiretroviral Therapy; HIV; Viral Load; Dolutegravir; Efavirenz

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Citation

Citation: Rameshwar Mahaseth., et al. “A Comparative Analysis of Viral Load Suppression in between Dolutegravir- and Efavirenz-based Regimens in People Living with HIV/AIDS at Provincial Hospital, Madhesh Institute of Health Science (MIHS), Janakpur, Madhesh Province, Nepal”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 9.4 (2025): 56-62.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Rameshwar Mahaseth., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.