@article {1427, title = {The consistency of adherence to antiretroviral therapy predicts biologic outcomes for human immunodeficiency virus-infected persons in clinical trials.}, journal = {Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America}, volume = {34}, year = {2002}, month = {2002 Apr 15}, pages = {1115-21}, abstract = {We prospectively studied long-term antiretroviral adherence patterns and their impact on biologic outcomes for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected participants in 2 randomized, multicenter clinical trials. For the period from baseline to month 12 of the study, participants who reported adherence levels of 100\%, 80\%-99\%, and 0\%-79\% had plasma HIV RNA levels that decreased by 2.77, 2.33, and 0.67 log(10) copies/mL, respectively (P<.001), whereas their CD4 counts increased by 179, 159, and 53 cells/mm(3), respectively (P<.001). Adherence predicted nondetectable HIV RNA levels (<50 copies/mL) at 12 months of follow-up (P<.001). The HIV RNA level was nondetectable in 72\% of participants who reported 100\% adherence at all 4 follow-up visits, compared with 66\%, 41\%, 35\%, and 13\% of participants who reported 100\% adherence at 3, 2, 1, or 0 follow-up visits, respectively (P<.001). Nonwhite race was associated with poorer adherence (P<.001), and older age was associated with better adherence (P<.001).}, keywords = {Adult, Age Factors, Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active, Clinical Trials as Topic, Female, Guideline Adherence, HIV Infections, Humans, Male, Patient Compliance, Statistics as Topic, Treatment Outcome}, issn = {1537-6591}, author = {Mannheimer, Sharon and Friedland, Gerald and Matts, John and Child, Carroll and Chesney, Margaret} }