Prevalence of peripheral neuropathy and its associated demographic and health status characteristics, among people on antiretroviral therapy in Rwanda

BACKGROUND: The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has dramatically reduced the mortality rate of people living with HIV (PLHIV). However, complications of both HIV and ART, such as peripheral neuropathy currently affect PLHIV. The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy of the lower extremity and, its association with demographic and health status, characteristics among people on ART in Rwanda. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among 507 women and men aged between 18 and 60 years, on ART, randomly selected from eight selected ART clinics in Rwanda. Brief Peripheral Neuropathy Screen was used to assess peripheral neuropathy. RESULTS: Peripheral neuropathy prevalence was 59% overall, mean age of the participants was 39.7 (±9.2) and a slightly older age was associated with peripheral neuropathy; [42(±9.2) vs 37 (±8.8) (p < 0.001)]. 78% of participants living in urban settings compared to 40% in rural settings reported peripheral neuropathy, 69% of participants with higher levels of education (secondary level and above) reported lower extremity neuropathy. The three factors were significantly associated with peripheral neuropathy in multivariable model analysis: older age [aOR = 1.1, 95% CI (1.0, 1.2), p < 0.001], primary education level [aOR = 0.6 95% Cl (0.3, 1.0), p = 0.04] and urban setting [aOR = 0.1, 95% CI (0.06, 0.3), p < 0.001], after adjusting for other factors. None of the health status characteristics namely; the level of CD4 cell count, duration of HIV infection and duration on ART, was independently associated with peripheral neuropathy. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of peripheral neuropathy among PLHIV on ART in Rwanda is high. It is unclear why urban setting has an effect on PN levels in this cross sectional study, but does suggest that unidentified social and lifestyles factors may have a role in subjective symptoms and objective signs, of PN.