Factors affecting treatment adherence in people with HIV - A single-Centre Descriptive Study from Turkey

Treatment adherence is extremely important for virological suppression and a good clinical outcome in HIV. People with good adherence to treatment are less likely to experience treatment failure and have a better clinical course of the infection. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the factors affecting treatment adherence in people with HIV in a single centre from Turkey.

The study was conducted at Tepecik Training and Research Hospital between September 2022 and December 2022. People with HIV over the age of 18 years who had been on ART for at least 6 months were included. Researchers designed a questionnaire by reviewing the literature to include factors that may affect treatment adherence.

A total of 306 people participated in the study (non-response rate: 30%), of which 86% were male. Among the individual factors, feeling depressed (19.5%), treatment fatigue (18.5%), and anxiety about not being able to have a healthy child (18.2%) were prominent. Major HIV/AIDS-related factors were the presence of AIDS-related opportunistic infection/cancer/comorbidity (20.9%) and lack of cure with current treatment (20.5%). Concern about side effects (14.6%) and drug-drug interaction (13.6%) were the most frequently mentioned ART-related factors. Main healthcare facility-related barriers for adherence were insufficient counselling (15.2%) and inability to reach the HIV physician (15.1%). Only a few patients stated factors related to the health system.

In our study, the most significant factors affecting treatment adherence appeared to be individual and HIV/AIDS-related. It is important to be aware of these factors and to spend time on tailored counselling during initial diagnosis and follow-up visits.