Timeliness of clinic attendance is a good predictor of virological response and resistance to antiretroviral drugs in HIV-infected patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ensuring long-term adherence to therapy is essential for the success of HIV treatment. As access to viral load monitoring and genotyping is poor in resource-limited settings, a simple tool to monitor adherence is needed. We assessed the relationship between an indicator based on timeliness of clinic attendance and virological response and HIV drug resistance.

Methods

Data from 7 virological cross-sectional studies were pooled. An adherence indicator was calculated as the number of appointments attended with delay divided by the number of months between antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation and date of virological testing and multiplying this by 100. Delays of 1 or more to 5 or more days were considered in turn. Multivariate random-intercept logistic regression

SUBMITTER: Bastard M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3492309 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature