Abstract
BackgroundAdherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in children is complicated may be because of many factors such as child characteristics, caregiver and family characteristics, regimen characteristics, etc. Therefore, it is important to identify factors associated with adherence in HIV infected children in order to reduce the risk of developing treatment failure or drug resistance through interventions. This survey was planned to find out the rate of adherence to ART and its associated factors among the children in Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in two hospitals in Mekelle: Ayder Referral Hospital and Mekelle Hospital, during the months of February to March 2013. A structured questionnaire was administered to caregivers to assess patient’s adherence.ResultsOut of a total of 193 patients, 83.4% as reported by caregivers were adherent to ART in the past seven days before the interview. On multivariate logistic regression model, it was found that the children whose caregivers were unmarried (AOR = 15.17, 95% CI: 3.36-68.43) and married (AOR = 3.54, 95% CI: 1.23-10.13) were more likely to adhere to their ART treatment than those whose caregivers were divorced/separated. Similarly, children whose caregivers’ age groups of 25–34 (AOR = 22.27, 95% CI: 4.34-114.29) and 35–44 (AOR = 7.14, 95% CI: 1.65-30.95) were more likely to adhere than their counterparts. The major reasons reported by caregivers for missing medicines include: child being depressed (24.4%), drug side effects (16.3%), too many pills (15.5%) and difficulty in swallowing pills (13.3%).ConclusionsThe prevalence of adherence to ART among children was found to be high and comparable to that of other similar setups. Nevertheless, encouraging the fundamental role of caregivers is so significant to improve adherence among those who missed a dose or more and consequently treatment outcomes of children with HIV.
Highlights
Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in children is complicated may be because of many factors such as child characteristics, caregiver and family characteristics, regimen characteristics, etc
Non-adherence to ART may lead to suboptimal drug levels, which may result in therapeutic failure, deterioration of the immune system and/or emergence of drugresistant HIV strains [4]
Sociodemographic characteristics A total of 193 caregivers of children was included in the study
Summary
Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in children is complicated may be because of many factors such as child characteristics, caregiver and family characteristics, regimen characteristics, etc. It is important to identify factors associated with adherence in HIV infected children in order to reduce the risk of developing treatment failure or drug resistance through interventions. This survey was planned to find out the rate of adherence to ART and its associated factors among the children in Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia. An estimated 34 million people were living with HIV as of 2011 globally, including 3.3 million children of less than 15 years. 2.5 million people, including 330,000 children, were newly infected with HIV. Many people receiving first-line regimens found that they fail to respond to treatment at an unnecessarily early stage and would require to switch to more expensive, and often unavailable, second-line regimens [5]
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