![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.jpg)
BACKGROUND: Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-positive individuals is critical to achieving the primary goal of HIV medical care: viral suppression. National research supports that behavioral and demographic variables can affect levels of medication adherence; yet few studies have explored these factors as predictors for ART adherence for in care, HIV-positive patients at the state level. The aim of this study is to determine if certain sociodemographic variables can predict the likelihood of adherence to ART medications in a sample of HIV-positive patients in Virginia.
METHODS: Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) participants in Virginia from 2009-2011 who reported ART use at the time of data collection were included in this project (N=506). Three backward elimination multivariate logistic regression models were utilized to determine predictors for ART treatment adherence. The outcome variable in each of the three models is a treatment adherence item from the participant interview. Model ADH_1 is a predictive model for adherence to medication doses; Model ADH_2 is a predictive model for adherence to following special medication instructions; and ADH_3 is a predictive model for adherence to ART dosing schedule.
RESULTS: The results for ADH_1 indicate that participants who reported illicit substance use in the past twelve months were almost twice as likely to miss taking a dose of medication (i.e. non-adherent to their ART medications) than those that did not report illicit substance use [adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 2.0; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1-3.5]. For ADH_2, those reporting illicit substance use were twice as likely to be non-adherent with medications with special instructions than those that reported no drug use (CI, 1.2-3.4); and men were 1.7 times more likely to be adherent if their medications had special instructions, as compared to women (CI, 1.1-2.8). For model ADH_3, those who report illicit substance use (CI, 1.1-2.7) and females (CI, 1.1-2.6) were each 1.7 times more likely to be non-adherent with ART medication dose schedules than those who did not report drug use and were male. All reported findings were significant at the p < .05 level.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that those who endorse illicit substance use and females are more likely to be non-adherent to ART medications than individuals that do not report substance use and males. Treatment adherence programs that focus on these groups may improve rates of overall ART treatment adherence.