[Hepatonephritis during the treatment of malaria by the therapeutic combinations from a pharmacovigilance database]

Prior studies have shown an association between the onset of hepatonephritis and the use of arteminisin-based combination therapy (ACT) during the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. The objective of this study was to identify the risk factors of hepatonephritis occurrence because of the uncertainty regarding the appearance and the aggravation of this syndrome.

A case-non case study was carried out on 428 notifications of pharmacovigilance extracted from the database of the clinical pharmacology department of the teaching hospital of Cocody from 2008 to 2012. Twenty-two cases of hepatonephritis were identified. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were performed to identify the risk factors and an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was calculated for each factor. The cut-off for significant association was set at 0.05.

The average age of cases was comparable with that of non-cases (34.04±3.68 years versus 33.94±3.92 years) with a median duration of therapy of 5 days and 6 days respectively. Male (AOR: 6.71; P<0.0001), toxic antecedents, traditherapy (AOR: 6.25; P<0.0001), consumption of CTA (AOR: 1.25; P<0.0001), betalactam (AOR: 0.46; P<0.0001), fluoroquinolone and self-medication (AOR: 2.89; P<0.0001) would be the majors risk factors associated with hepatonephritis onset. The risk increased with the number of antimalarial drugs taken. The evolution towards the offset was less frequent (AOR: 0.078; P<0.02).

The risk factors of hepatonephritis were the consumption of malarial drugs and connected molecules, self-medication and misuse. The outcome was generally unfavourable. Both the general population and health professionals should be trained on the good use of the antimalarial drugs.