Hyperlactatemia and concurrent use of antiretroviral therapy among HIV infected patients in Uganda.

BACKGROUND We determined the prevalence and factors associated with hyperlactatemia among HIV patients admitted on the emergency ward of a national hospital in Uganda. OBJECTIVE We were specifically interested in knowing whether there was an association between clinically significant hyperlactatemia and concurrent antiretroviral therapy (ART) use. METHODS A cross sectional descriptive study enrolled 303 HIV infected patients at a national referral hospital between March and April 2008. We consecutively recruited all eligible HIV infected patients above 18 years admitted on the emergency ward. Data were collected on socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics. Lactate levels were measured using the Accutrend® portable lactate analyser. Data analysis was performed using Stata 10.0; P-value of < 0.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTS Three hundred and three HIV infected patients were recruited. Prevalence of hyperlactatemia (lactate ≥2.5mmol/L) was 252 (83.2%). Clinically significant hyperlactatemia (lactate ≥4mmol/L) was present in 105/303(34.6%) patients. There was no association between use of ART and clinically significant hyperlactatemia. In the multivariate analysis, body weakness 1.91 (1.09-3.35), skin rash 3.18 (1.11-9.10) and tachypnoea 1.04 (1.01-1.07) were independently associated with clinically significant hyperlactatemia. CONCLUSION There was a high prevalence of clinically significant hyperlactatemia among HIV infected patients but it was not associated with concurrent antiretroviral use.