{"doi":"10.17615/r8e6-d186","title":"Assessment of non-standard HIV antiretroviral therapy regimens at Lighthouse Trust in Lilongwe, Malawi","abstract":"AIM: Lighthouse Trust in Lilongwe, Malawi serves approximately 25,000 patients with HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens standardized according to national treatment guidelines. However, as a referral centre for complex cases, Lighthouse Trust occasionally treats patients with non-standard ART regimens (NS-ART) that deviate from the treatment guidelines. We evaluated factors contributing to the use of NS-ART and whether patients could transition to standard regimens. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of all adult patients at Lighthouse Trust being treated with NS-ART as of February 2012. Patients were identified using the electronic data system. Medical charts were reviewed and descriptive statistics were obtained. RESULTS: One hundred six patients were initially found being treated with NS-ART, and 92 adult patients were confirmed to be on NS-ART after review. Mean patient age was 42.4 ± 10.3 years, and 52 (57%) were female. Mean duration of treatment with the NS-ART being used at the time of data collection was 2.1 ± 1.5 years. Eight patients (9%) were on modified first-line NS-ART and 84 (91%) were on modified second-line NS-ART, with 90 patients (98%) having multiple factors contributing to NS-ART use. Severe toxicity from one medication contributed in 28 cases (30%) and toxicity from multiple medications contributed in 46 cases (50%), while 22 patients (24%) were transitioned to NS-ART following a stockout of their original medication. Following clinical review, 84 patients (91%) were transitioned to standard regimens, and eight (9%) were maintained on NS-ART because of incompatibility of their clinical features with the latest national guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Primary factors contributing to NS-ART use were medication toxicities and medication stockouts. Most patients were transitioned to standard regimens, although the need for NS-ART remains.","journal":"UNC Libraries","year":2024,"id":501376,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9538,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1347148,"name":"S Phiri","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1347147,"name":"Thom Chaweza","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":601281,"name":"Wingston Ng’ambi","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":392365,"name":"Brian S. Barnett","orcid":"0000-0002-8963-5701","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":597212,"name":"Hannock Tweya","orcid":"0000-0002-8247-1273","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":312050,"name":"Mina C. Hosseinipour","orcid":"0000-0003-2174-313X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:10:15.999370Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}