Neuropsychiatric effects of tenofovir in comparison with other antiretroviral drugs.

Correspondence: Kathleen Ferrer 3.5 West, Infectious Diseases, Children’s National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC 20010, USA Tel +1 202 476 6151 Fax +1 202 476 3850 Email kferrer@cnmc.org Abstract: Tenofovir is a widely used antiretroviral medication indicated to treat adults and children infected with HIV. Current guidelines for the management of HIV infection recommend tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) as a component of the preferred first-line combination antiretroviral therapy. The efficacy, tolerability, prolonged half-life allowing for once-daily administration, and availability as a component of several fixed-dose formulations make TDF an attractive choice for treatment-naive and treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients. TDF is also widely used as a component of postexposure prophylaxis in noninfected individuals. Most importantly, it has been recently approved for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis for noninfected adults and adolescents to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. With increasing use of TDF among adults and children, understanding of the potential for drug-associated side effects is important. This review focuses on the neuropsychiatric effects of tenofovir in adults and children with HIV infection in comparison with other antiretroviral drugs.