ASSESSMENT OF KIDNEY FUNCTION, ESTIMATED GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE AND BODY MASS INDEX IN HIV SEROPOSITIVE SUBJECTS ON ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY IN NNEWI

Objective: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is anticipated to result in an increase in long-term survival in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected individuals, but may present with the development of associated complications including kidney damage. The present study aimed at assessing the kidney function estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) rate and body mass index (BMI) of HIV seropositive subjects with or without HAART at Nnewi, Nigeria.Methods: A total of 90 subjects were recruited comprising of 30 HIV-seropositive on highly antiretroviral therapy (HAART), 30 HIV-seropositive drug naive, and 30 HIV-seronegative (control subjects). Anthropometric parameters of the subjects were assessed using a well-structured questionnaire. Five millilitres of blood sample was collected from the patients and used for the estimation of urea, creatinine, uric acid, serum total protein and cluster of differentiation (CD4) T-cell counts using diacetyl monoxime method, Jaffe-slot method, Caraway phosphotungstic acid method, refractometry and flow cytometric method respectively.Results: The result shows significantly higher mean serum urea, creatinine and uric acid levels in HIV seropositive drug-naive subjects and HIV seropositive subjects on HAART when compared with control (p