Determinants of None-Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy among HIV-Infected Adults in Arba Minch General Hospital, Gamo Gofa Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A Case Control Study

Abstract

Background: Non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy is a major challenge to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) care. For Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) to be effective, high level of adherence is required. In spite of this, there is no information on determinant none-adherence to antiretroviral therapy in the study area; therefore this study was conducted to identify predictors of none-adherence to antiretroviral therapy among People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Arba Minch General Hospital. Methods: Unmatched case-control study design was employed on 115 case and 347 controls. Non-adherence to ART is considered as case and adherence to ART is taken as control. Data was collected by using a structured pre-tested questionnaire and by using data abstraction format from ART registration chart. Binary logistic regression analysis was calculated to assess the presence and degree of association between dependent and independent variables; finally multivariate analysis was conducted to identify independent factors for none adherence. Result: From interviewed respondent majority of respondent 304(65.8%) were females and the rest 158(34.2%) were males. From all respondent 209(45%) were in age group 30-39 years. Factors like rural residence 6.30(3.01-13.15), PLWHA who has no family and community support 1.92(1.05-3.51), mobile phone adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.20(1.15-3.44)), alcohol drinker 5.88(2.86-12.09), malnutrition 2.83(1.18-6.77) and who consume low dietary diversity 7.18(3.43-15.04) and CD4 Count <250 cells/mm3 2.18(1.05-4.50) are the major identified significant factors for none adherence to ART treatment in the study area. Conclusion and recommendation: PLWHA, who has no family and community support, rural residence, not utilized mobile phone, alcohol drinker, under nutrition, who consume low dietary diversity and those with low CD4 count are major significant determinant factors for non-adherence to ART treatment. Therefore, the capacity to effectively manage the above critical factor is crucial in the success of antiretroviral therapy.