Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Measuring adherence to antiretroviral treatment in resource-poor settings: The clinical validity of key indicators
BMC Health Services Research, Volume 10, Article 42, Year 2010
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
Background. Access to antiretroviral therapy has dramatically expanded in Africa in recent years, but there are no validated approaches to measure treatment adherence in these settings. Methods. In 16 health facilities, we observed a retrospective cohort of patients initiating antiretroviral therapy. We constructed eight indicators of adherence and visit attendance during the first 18 months of treatment from data in clinic and pharmacy records and attendance logs. We measured the correlation among these measures and assessed how well each predicted changes in weight and CD4 count. Results. We followed 488 patients; 63.5% had 100% coverage of medicines during follow-up; 2.7% experienced a 30-day gap in treatment; 72.6% self-reported perfect adherence in all clinic visits; and 19.9% missed multiple clinic visits. After six months of treatment, mean weight gain was 3.9 kg and mean increase in CD4 count was 138.1 cells/mm3. Dispensing-based adherence, self-reported adherence, and consistent visit attendance were highly correlated. The first two types of adherence measure predicted gains in weight and CD4 count; consistent visit attendance was associated only with weight gain. Conclusions. This study demonstrates that routine data in African health facilities can be used to monitor antiretroviral adherence at the patient and system level. © 2010 Ross-Degnan et al.
Authors & Co-Authors
Ross-Degnan, Dennis G.
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Pierre-Jacques, Marsha
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Zhang, Fang
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Tadeg, Hailu
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Management Sciences for Health
Gitau, Lillian N.
Kenya, Nairobi
Sustainable Healthcare Foundation
Ntaganira, Joseph
Rwanda, Butare
University of Rwanda
Balikuddembe, Robert
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University
Chalker, John C.
United States, Arlington
Center for Pharmaceutical Management
Wagner, Anita Katharina
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Inrud, I. A.A.
United States, Arlington
Initiative on Adherence to Antiretrovirals
Statistics
Citations: 77
Authors: 10
Affiliations: 7
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1186/1472-6963-10-42
e-ISSN:
14726963
Research Areas
Health System And Policy
Study Design
Cohort Study