Self reported adherence to antiretroviral treatment and correlates in Hunan province, the Peoples Republic of China

Antiretroviral therapy non-adherence and its relationship with cognitive impairment, alcohol use disorder, and depression in adolescents living with HIV

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to compare antiretroviral non-adherence in the behaviourally infected (BIAs) and congenitally infected adolescents (CIAs) and explore its associations with depression, cognitive impairment, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) in adolescents living with HIV(ALWHIV) in Botswana.

METHODS

This study was a cross-sectional, comparative, multi-center research that involved collecting samples from different HIV clinics in Botswana. Of the 622 ALWHIV, 223 were identified as BIAs and 399 as CIAs. They were evaluated using various tools such as MINI-KID for psychiatric disorders, DSM-5 for AUD, CAT-rapid for cognitive assessment, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for non-adherence (the outcome). The data were analysed using both bivariate and multivariate regression analyses.

RESULTS

The participants' mean age (SD) was 17.7(1.60). The CIAs were more likely to have cognitive impairment (t -7.25; p < 0.01), while the BIAs had more depression (χ2 = 5.86; p = 0.016) and AUD (χ2 = 4.39; p = 0.036) and were more likely to be non-adherent (t = 3.14; p = 0.002). In the CIA group, cognitive impairment (AOR = 2.86; 95% CI:1.77-4.64) (AOR = 2.79; 95%CI:1.73-4.48) and depression (AOR = 2.69; 95%CI:1.48-4.90 were associated with ART non-adherence. In the BIA group, depression (AOR = 2.55; 95%CI:1.27-5.16), AUD (AOR = 2.58; 95%CI:1.21-5.49) and struggling to accept status (AOR = 2.54; 95%CI:1.41-4.56) predicted non-adherence to treatment.

CONCLUSION

The two groups of adolescents differ regarding ART non-adherence and associated psychosocial issues, indicating the need for differentiated care to address non-adherence in the ALWHIV, especially in high-burden, resource-constrained settings, such as Botswana.

Development and Validation of a New Comprehensive Assessment Scale of HIV-Related Psychological Distress in China: A Methodological Study

ABSTRACT

Instruments evaluating HIV-related psychological distress (HRPD) in people living with HIV may lack sensitivity to capture patients' psychological burden. We developed a comprehensive scale measuring HRPD and evaluated its psychometric properties. A mixed-method study was conducted from July 2021 to April 2022; it involved a literature review, semistructured interviews (n = 15), three rounds of panel discussions, two rounds of Delphi studies (n = 20), a pilot test (n = 20) to generate new scale items, and a cross-sectional survey (n = 659) to evaluate the psychometric properties of the HIV-related psychological distress scale. The scale contains 22 items across 4 subscales (i.e., disease-related distress, treatment adherence distress, identity distress, and disclosure distress). The confirmatory factor analysis revealed high goodness of fit (χ2/df = 2.412, comparative fit index = 0.916, incremental fit index = 0.917, and Tucker‒Lewis index = 0.902), showing that the HIV-related psychological distress scale is a reliable (Cronbach's α = 0.871 overall) and valid scale for evaluating HRPD in China and can be used to dynamically evaluate and monitor HRPD levels during patient follow-up.

Failure to Attain HIV Viral Suppression After Intensified Adherence Counselling-What Can We Learn About Its Factors?

Background

Introduction and expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) have turned the tide of HIV pandemic, thus helping people living with HIV (PLHIV) achieve viral suppression. This success may need to be complemented by intensified adherence counseling (IAC) to improve adherence to treatment. However, some PLHIV still face higher than acceptable viral loads despite being on treatment.

Purpose

We investigated the factors associated with the failure to suppress HIV viral load after three months of IAC sessions.

Patients and Methods

This cross-sectional study analyzed secondary data from PLHIV-attended care and treatment clinics in Mwanza between January 2018 and December 2019 who had unsuppressed VL after being on ART for at least six months. We identified PLHIV in first-line ART with viral load evaluation before receiving IAC and had viral load results done at 90 days after IAC. We conducted descriptive statistics to examine the magnitude of viral suppression. Wilcoxon signed-rank test used to compare the median viral load before and after IAC sessions, and logistic regressions predicted the factors associated with failure.

Results

This study included 212 subjects. After intervention, most participants 85.9% (182) had significantly improved adherence compared to baseline. More than half 75.5% (160) of the participants had viral suppression after the intervention. Participants aged 18-25 years (AOR = 5.6, 95% CI, 1.1-29.6), unstable client during ART initiation (AOR = 0.3, 95% CI, 0.13-0.62), and poor adherence to ART (AOR = 4, 95% CI, 1.3-12.3) remained the main predictors of virological failure after IAC intervention.

Conclusion

Even though virological suppression is influenced by ART adherence, the findings in this study have shown co-existence of other factors to be addressed. Unstable during ART initiation is a new factor identified in this study.

Healthcare Resource Consumption and Related Costs in Patients on Antiretroviral Therapies: Findings from Real-World Data in Italy

This real-world analysis conducted on administrative databases of a sample of Italian healthcare entities was aimed at describing the role of therapeutic pathways and drug utilization in terms of adherence, persistence, and therapy discontinuation in HIV-infected patients under antiretroviral therapies (ART) and Tenofovir Alafenamide (TAF)-based regimens on healthcare resource consumption and related direct healthcare costs. Between 2015 and 2019, adults (≥18 years) prescribed with TAF-based therapies were identified and characterized in the year prior to the first prescription (index-date) for TAF-based therapies and followed-up until the end of data availability. Overall, 2658 ART-treated patients were included, 1198 of which were under a TAF-based regimen. TAF-based therapies were associated with elevated percentages of adherence (83.3% patients with proportion of days covered, PDC > 95% and 90.6% with PDC > 85%) and persistence (78.5%). The discontinuation rate was low in TAF-treated patients, ranging from 3.3% in TAF-switchers to 5% in naïve. Persistent patients had lower overall mean annual healthcare expenditures (EUR 11,106 in persistent vs. EUR 12,380 in non-persistent, p = 0.005), and this trend was statistically significant also for costs related to HIV hospitalizations. These findings suggest that a better therapeutic management of HIV infection might result in positive clinical and economic outcomes.

Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of longitudinal antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among first-time ART initiators in Cape Town, South Africa

First-time antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiators may be more vulnerable to poor ART adherence because they may be coping with a new HIV diagnosis, facing logistical challenges to accessing and adhering to ART for the first time, and have not yet developed support networks or the skills to support long-term adherence. We recruited 324 participants in two HIV clinics near Cape Town, South Africa. Sociodemographic/psychosocial factors were measured at baseline and self-reported adherence at the 6 month follow-up. We conducted multivariable regression to determine which baseline factors were associated with 6-month adherence. A better patient-clinic relationship score (OR: 1.08 [95% CI: 1.05-1.11]) was associated with higher adherence. A drug use problem (0.51 [0.29-0.87]), higher social isolation (0.93 [0.87-0.99]), and greater number of years living with HIV before initiating ART (0.92 [0.86-1.00]) were associated with adherence levels below 90%. Patient-clinic relationships and social support are key psycho-social factors in early adherence behavior. Reducing drug use problems through targeted screening and early intervention may improve ART adherence.

Psychometric properties of the Chinese Version of the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale for people living with HIV

Objective

The study was conducted to validate the reliability and factor structure of the Chinese version of the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS-CH) for people living with HIV (PLWH).

Methods

From May 2017 to November 2017, a cross-sectional survey was performed in two AIDS inpatient departments located in two cities in Hunan, China. Reliability was evaluated by examining the internal consistency and split-half reliability of the items. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess the factor structure of the RHDS-CH, and the model was revised according to the modification index.

Results

Cronbach’s α for the RHDS-CH was 0.912, and the split-half reliability of the total scale was 0.831. Initially, the results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the sample did not fit this four-factor model and its 23 items well (χ²/df = 3, GFI =0.772, TLI = 0.823, CFI = 0.844, RMSEA = 0.100). To improve the model fit indices, we performed model modification with the guidance of modification indices. Finally, the model fit indices showed an acceptable fit to the data (χ²/df = 2.141, GFI = 0.844, TLI = 0.899, CFI = 0.915, RMSEA = 0.075). Coefficients of corrected item-total correlation of the RHDS-CH ranged from 0.435 to 0.726.

Conclusion

This study is the first to examine the psychometric properties of the RHDS-CH for PLWH. Our findings showed good reliability and confirmed the four-factor structure model for PLWH.