Dosing nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in adults receiving continuous veno-venous hemofiltration

Antiretrovirals for People with HIV on Dialysis

In the era of widespread use of antiretroviral therapy (ART), people with HIV (PWH) have a near-normal life expectancy. However, PWH have high rates of kidney diseases and progression to end-stage renal disease at a younger age. PWH have multiple risks for developing acute and chronic kidney diseases, including traditional risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and HIV-related factors such as HIV-associated nephropathy and increased susceptibility to infections and exposure to nephrotoxic medications. Despite an improvement in access to kidney transplant among PWH, the number of PWH on dialysis continues to increase. The expansion of the number of antiretrovirals (ARVs) and kidney replacement modalities, the absence of pharmacokinetic data, and therapeutic drug monitoring make it very challenging for providers to dose ARVs appropriately leading to medication errors, adverse events, and higher mortality. Most of the recommendations are either based on small sample size studies or extrapolated based on physiochemical characteristics of ART. We aim to review the most available and most current literature on ART in PWH with renal insufficiency and ART dosing recommendations on dialysis to ensure that PWH are provided with the safest and most effective ART regimen.

Evaluation of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor dosing during continuous veno-venous hemofiltration

Background Unpredictable drug concentrations may lead to suboptimal exposure to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) due to inadequate doses administered during continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH), which in turn may lead to decreased antiretroviral efficacy and possibly further HIV disease progression. Objective To compare administered doses of NRTIs to calculated doses of NRTIs to evaluate if patients were expected to have a favorable pharmacokinetic exposure profile while receiving CVVH. Methods The NRTI dose was compared to a table of recommendations based on a mathematical formula that estimates the amount of drug expected to be removed during CVVH. Results Twelve patients were on 27 NRTIs. Eleven (41%) NRTI doses were expected to provide a favorable pharmacokinetic profile based on pharmacokinetic mathematical calculations. Conclusion The majority of NRTIs were potentially not optimally dosed based on proposed pharmacokinetic calculations.