Table 2.

Qualitative analysis of POZ/AIDSmeds community forums^a: examples of quotations coded for impact of renal risks associated with antiretroviral treatment

Codes for impact of renal risks	Quotations from POZ/AIDSmeds community forums
Awareness	“Regarding Stribild and the kidney issue. Yes it is an issue. How big of an issue is still a question. Because Stribild is so new there isn’t a lot of data. All we know is that it does affect your kidneys because it causes certain kidney tests to be elevated. Combine that with Truvada’s effect on your kidneys and it’s a double whammy. Some doctors are hesitant in prescribing it because there are still some unanswered questions (including mine)” “I just started on stribild. I really wanted it because of all the good things I’ve read. I’m getting kidney stuff checked frequently and so far haven’t had any reason to believe my kidneys aren’t holding up just fine” “I hear that Atripla can cause liver and kidney damage long-term and can cause other organ damage. Has anyone experienced any severity of this?”
Patient concerns	“The last week or so I have experienced lower back pain? I know Truvada can be associated with kidney problems, but I won’t get my first lab test for another 3 weeks so I won’t know if it is my kidneys causing the pain. Should I be worried?” “I’m not thrilled with Truvada since I have concerns about long-term kidney issues that it can possibly cause” “I take Stribild…The only thing I’m concerned about is the effects it’ll have on my kidneys. I have been doing clinical at an HIV clinic for school and I’m astounded at the amount of people that have renal disease requiring dialysis”
Clinician concerns	“I wanted to start Stribild and my doc said if I really insisted on it, she would give it to me. However she did mention the long-term effects that weren’t known, and I also have a history of kidney stones so she said it’d be a possible increased risk for more kidney issues” “So here’s my question: my nurse, whom I respect and appreciate dearly…She doesn’t like the Truvada very much, saying it’s prone to cause renal problems” “Because of my kidney/kidney stones/always having RBC in my UA, she was leery of Stribild. She said Stribild is a good drug but can really be damaging to your kidneys. She said, though my kidney function is fine right now, there’s no long-term studies to show how it will effect healthy kidneys over time and also being as how I’ve had issues already, she didn’t want to chance it”
Treatment impact	“I was taken off Truvada because of low kidney function. The good news is Doc said I might regain function after a bit” “The switch to Epzicom was very uneventful...My kidney numbers are slowly creeping back toward normal—not sure how long it will take for them to fully recover, but I’m happy that I made the change” “I was also on Reyataz and had to stop after some kidney dysfunction due to Reyataz”

^aThere are 18 separate POZ/AIDSmeds forums organized by topics. For the current analysis, all posts made to two forums between January 2008 and August 2014 were examined: (1) the English version of “Living with HIV” and (2) “Questions about treatment and side effects”