Prescribing pattern of antiretroviral drugs in Out Patient Department at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang

Anti-HIV (also called antiretroviral) medications are used to control the reproduction of the virus and to slow or halt the progression of HIV-related disease. When used in combinations, these medications are termed Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). HAART combines three or more anti-HIV medications in a daily regimen, sometimes referred to as a "cocktail". Anti-HIV medications do not cure HIV infection and individuals taking these medications can still transmit HIV to others. In general, taking only one or two drugs is not recommended because any decrease in viral load is almost always temporary without three or more drugs. Recently, a number of drugs have been developed that combine two or even three separate medications in a single pill. The treatment of HIV infection and AIDS is in a highly dynamic state. Individuals with this condition are advised to seek out experts in their local community who are current with the latest modes of therapy and ongoing clinical trials for evaluating newer therapies. According to the national guidelines, treatment should focus on achieving the maximum suppression of symptoms for as long as possible. The aim of is to reduce the amount of virus in your blood to very low or even nondetectable levels, although this doesn't mean the virus is gone. This is usually accomplished with a combination of three or more drugs. But the treatment guidelines also emphasize the importance of quality of life. Thus the goal of AIDS treatment is to find the strongest possible regimen that is also simple and has the fewest side effects. The reason we choose Prescribing Patterns of Antiretroviral Drugs in Outpatient Department at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR), Klang as our title of the project is because we want to investigate the prescribing patterns of Antiretroviral Drugs in Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah , Klang based on prescription received in Out Patient Department. We want to determine which age group or gender that has most incident of retroviral disease in HTAR. We also want to determine which the most commonly used prescribing patterns in our current hospital. From the result that we get, we can conclude the highest or less prescribing regimen that has been used.