| Title | Medication persistence of HIV-infected drug users on directly administered antiretroviral therapy. |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2013 |
| Authors | Ing, Eileen C., Jason W. Bae, Duncan Smith-Rohrberg Maru, and Frederick L. Altice |
| Journal | AIDS and behavior |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pagination | 113-21 |
| Date Published | 2013 Jan |
| ISSN | 1573-3254 |
| Keywords | Adult, Anti-HIV Agents, Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active, Behavior, Addictive, CD4 Lymphocyte Count, Connecticut, Directly Observed Therapy, Drug Users, Female, HIV Infections, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Male, Medication Adherence, Proportional Hazards Models, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, RNA, Viral, Severity of Illness Index, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Treatment Outcome, Viral Load |
| Abstract | Patient and regimen persistence in HIV-infected drug users are largely unknown. We evaluated patterns of medication non-persistence among HIV-infected drug users enrolled in a prospective, 6-month randomized controlled trial of directly administered antiretroviral therapy (DAART). Medication-taking behavior was assessed via direct observation and MEMS data. Of 74 participants who initiated DAART, 59 (80%) subjects were non-persistent with medication for 3 or more consecutive days. Thirty-one participants (42%) had 2 or more episodes of non-persistence. Higher depressive symptoms were strongly associated with non-persistence episodes of ≥ 3 days (AOR: 17.4, P = 0.02) and ≥ 7 days AOR: 5.4, P = 0.04). High addiction severity (AOR 3.2, P = 0.03) was correlated with non-persistence ≥ 7 days, and injection drug use (AOR: 15.2, P = 0.02) with recurrence of non-persistence ≥ 3 days. Time to regimen change was shorter for NNRTI-based regimens compared to PI-based ones (HR: 3.0, P = 0.03). There was no significant association between patterns of patient non-persistence and virological outcomes. |
| DOI | 10.1521/aeap.2013.25.1.14 |
| Alternate Journal | AIDS Behav |
