Abstract
Adherence to antiretroviral therapy is a major predictor of the survival of individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Appropriate use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) has improved the health of many HIV positive individuals. The effectiveness of HIV treatment depends on sustenance of high levels of adherence to ARVs, however, ARV regimens are often complicated and can be affected by varying dosing schedules, failing to have proper dietary requirements and patients developing adverse effects. The main objective of this study was to determine patient’s demographic, social and economic factors influencing adherence to Anti-retroviral drugs among HIV/AIDS adult patients. A cross sectional study was carried out at Embu County Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain relative proportion of male and female respondents. 332 HIV positive patients were chosen from a total of 1694 patients who were active in ART for more than one year. A semi-structured interview schedules was used to obtain information. The study revealed that almost half (48.2%) of the respondents had optimal adherence to ART treatment. 34.9% cited traveling as an hindrance to optimal adherence to treatment. Adherence to ART treatment was significantly associated with age of the respondents, marital status, main occupation and average monthly income of the respondents. The study recommends that HIV patients should be given more information on the importance of consistency and nearly perfect adherence to ART. The patients should be enlightened on the importance of carrying their ARV drugs even when going for short travels.
Highlights
Adherence to ART is crucial for treatment success among HIV patients‚ high levels of adherence is a prerequisite for maintained viral suppression and lowers risk of drug resistance, this in turn will prevent premature morbidity and mortality [1]
This was different from a study by Kidder et al [15] where in a much higher figure 84.6% of 30-days optimal adherence was reported in a longitudinal group-randomized trial in Kenya
A study done in Pumwani Hospital by Karanja [16] reported higher levels of adherence, where 91% of the respondents showed perfect adherence levels between 95 and 100% according to hospital records as opposed to this study in Embu comprehensive care clinic
Summary
Adherence to ART is crucial for treatment success among HIV patients‚ high levels of adherence is a prerequisite for maintained viral suppression and lowers risk of drug resistance, this in turn will prevent premature morbidity and mortality [1]. Non-adherence to ART is a substantial challenge in resource-poor settings where increasing drug resistance is hard to combat using the limited treatment alternatives available [2]. It is estimated that the average rates of non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy to be ranging between 50% and 70% [3]. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS continues to grow, for instance, there were 36.9 million people living with HIV in 2014, up from 29.8 million in 2001, this is as a result of continued new infections, people living longer with HIV and general population growth. The number of patients on antiretroviral therapy worldwide increased from
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