Predictors of Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy among Low Income Adult Patient in Arsi Zone
Bekele Dibaba, Mohammed Hussein
Lecturer in Arsi University, Asella, Ethiopia
Citation : Bekele D, Mohammed H. Predictors of Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy among Low Income Adult Patient in Arsi Zone. ARC Journal of AIDS. 2016;1(1):3–6.
Background: Good adherence to antiretroviral therapy reduces the risk of drug resistance. Little is known about the predictors of adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy among low income patients in Ethiopia. Therefore this study determines the magnitude and predictors of adherence to antiretroviral therapy among these patients in Arsi zone.
Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out from January 1, 2014 to September 20, 2016 among 280 adult PLWHA (≥ 18 years) attending ART clinics in Arsi zone health centers and hospitals. Multiple Logistic regression models were constructed with adherence and independent variables to identify the predictors.
Results: Patients who got family support were 2 times [2.11(1.25-3.58)] more likely to adhere than those who didn’t get family support as an independent predictor of overall adherence (dose and food). The reasons given for missing drugs were 59(21.1%) being away from home and 59(21.1%) being busy with other things.
Conclusion: The adherence rate low income patients were associated with social support. This study highlights emphasis should be given to social supports that help patients to follow their medication.
1.Introduction
Antiretroviral treatment success depends on sustainable high rates of adherence to medication regimen of HAART. However, significant proportions of HIV-infected patients do not reach high levels of adherence and this can lead to drug resistance and public health problems. A meta-analysis study found adherence to ART 60% [1]. Twenty four percent non-adherences has been reported in Southwest Ethiopia [2].
World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on the use of antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings recognize the critical role of adherence in order to achieve clinical and programmatic success[3]. Good adherence to anti- retroviral therapy is necessary to lower the risk of drug resistance[4]. Very high levels of adherence (> 95%) are required for ART to be effective for long term and to prevent the emergence of resistant viral strains[5]. There has been a concern about the capability of patients in resource-limited settings to adhere to ART, especially in the African context [6].
Both clinical experience and emerging data suggest that many patients with chronic HIV disease do no fully adhere to their Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) regimens [7].
2.Materials and Methods
Community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Arsi zone between January 1, 2014 and September 20, 2016 among low income patients on HAART at least for six months. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS. Multiple Logistic regressions were done with adherence and the independent variables to identify the predictors. Odds Ratios (OR) and their 95% CI were used to look into the strength of association between the dependent and independent variables. A person was said to be food adherent if he/she always followed dietary instructions agreed upon with the providers, otherwise he/she was labeled as non-adherent. A patient is said to be dose adherent when he/she took ≥ 95% of the prescribed doses correctly otherwise non-adherent. So in this study Adherent is defined as when a PLWHA takes more than 95% of prescribed drug , follows dose restriction and dietary instruction from health care provider for one week prior to the study otherwise Non-Adherent. This type of measurement of adherence has been used in similar setting and adherence in the previous seven days was used for comparison [2].
3.Results and Discussion
In our study patient self-report showed that, 95% of the patients were adherent with ≥ 95% of prescribed doses in the last seven days (Table 2). Study done in north-west Ethiopia shows that the adherence level of hospitalized patients were 80.9%(8). Meta-analysis done in Spain indicated that the overall percentage of adherence was 55%, although this value may be an overestimate(9). Other studies conducted in developed countries demonstrated that the rates of adherence by self-report ranged from 40% to 70% (10). The differences could be due to differences in income.
Table 1. Socio-demographic and economic characteristics of the study participants among low income adult patient in Arsi zone, 2016.
Characteristics
Frequency
Percentage
sex
male
126
45
female
153
54.8
age
18-24
13
4.6
25-34
130
46.5
35-44
100
36.1
>45
36
12.7
Marital status
married
135
48.5
single
58
21
widowed
37
13.5
divorced
47
16.8
Educational status
illiterate
28
10
elementary
141
50.5
secondary
78
28
12+
31
11.2
Occupation
employed
112
40.4
House wife
28
10
merchant
36
13
Daily labor
74
26.5
Have no job
17
6.4
others
11
4
Living with
Alone
67
24
family
47
17
parent
152
54.3
other
11
4.1
Monthly income
<500 Ethiopian birr
210
75
501-1001 Ethiopian birr
27
9.6
religion
orthodox
142
51
Muslim
68
24.4
protestant
58
21
others
9
3.5
Table 2. Self-reported dose and food Adherence of the respondents among low income adult patient in Arsi zone, 2016.
There is good reason to expect that socio-demographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables should be associated with antiretroviral adherence and thus HIV disease activity[11]. In this study patients with family income of 501-1000 were more likely to have an overall adherence than patients less than 500 family income in bivariate analysis (Table 3). Similarly, a recently published meta-analysis [12] examined the association between socio-economic status and adherence to antiretroviral therapy. A study suggested that Special attention need to be given to patients who have lower educational status and are members of households with low income[13]. This indicates that low income is one of the predictors of adherence.
In our study patients who got family support were 2 times more likely to adhere than those who didn’t get the family support (Table 3). Another factor facilitated adherence was support from the family encouraging and helping to remind them to take the treatment. Social support encouraged adherence [41]. Similarly, it has been reported in other studies (2) as social support was a constant predictor of adherence. Lacks of social support have been found to be associated with lower adherence[15]. Social support was associated with greater adherence. A study suggested provision of social support for adherence [16].
Table 3. Final logistic regression model that predict adherence to dose and food among low income adult patient in Arsi zone, 2016.
variable
adherence
Crude OR(95%CI)
p-value
Adjusted OR(95%CI)
p-value
Adhered
N (%)
not adhered
N (%)
WHO stage
I
4(33.3)
8(66.7)
0.26(0.07-0.96)
0.01
0.16(0.041-1.18)
0.12
II
200(71.7)
79(28.3)
1.31(0.52-2.73)
1.18(0.54- 2.55)
III
217(77.8)
(62)22.2
1.75(0.91-3.42)
1.34(0.57- 2.71)
IV
(185)66
(95)34
1.00
1.00
Family income
Less than 500EHB
194(69.5)
84(30.1)
1.00
1.00
501-1001EHB
198(71.0)
81(29.0)
1.03(0.20-0.92)
1.06(0.58-1.97)
Getting family support
no
219 (78.5)
60(21.5)
1.00
0.01
1.00 2
0.01
yes
177(63.3)
102(36.7)
0.47(0.28-0.77)
2.12(1.24-3.58)
4.Concusion
The adherence rate most patients who have low income were associated with social support and family income. This study highlights emphasis should be given to social supports that help patients to improve adherence to their medication.
5.Acknowledgement
My deepest gratitude goes to all data collectors and Respondents. My sincere appreciation goes to my family for their time and continuous encouragement during the whole period of this study.
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