Adherence to Anti-Retroviral Therapy in North Central Nigeria
2015
Background: Nigeria bears nearly 10% of the global burden of HIV/AIDS. Most of the
AIDS patients dwell in the part of Nigeria known as the “North Central” geopolitical region.
Sustaining HIV patients in this high risk region is critical for the overall success of the ART program
in Nigeria. We assessed the level of adherence to ART and adherence determinants among participants
who had been on ART for an average of three and half years.
Methodology: Eligible study participants initiated HAART between 2004 and 2010. HAART regimens contained
AZT/3TC +NVP or EFV; AZT/3TC/NVP; 3TC/NVP/d4T; TDF/FTC +EFV or NVP and TDF+3TC+LPV/r. A composite
adherence measure defined as not missing a dose and taking the correct dose and adhering to the correct frequency and
correct schedule of drug administration was used to assess self-reported adherence over a period of three days. Selfreported
adherence was validated with viral load test. Base line adherence was fixed at ≥95% adherence level. Significant
test was fixed at p<0.05.
Results: We included 502 participants in the analysis. Median age for men was 42 years (IQR: 38 – 44 years) and women,
36 years (IQR: 30-40 years). Mean duration of therapy was 43 (16-70) months. Effective self-reported adherence was
97.3%. Only age and virologic suppression were significantly associated with adherence to ART. Forgetfullness (43%)
was the major reason for non-adherence, while improvement in health condition (40%) was the main facilitator of
adherence to the medications.
Conclusion: Most participants achieved optimal adherence (≥95%) with high virologic suppression. Strategies to sustain
optimal adherence, e.g., the use of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) and comprehensive adherence counselling should be
maintained.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
0
References
6
Citations
NaN
KQI