Adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV-Infected persons receiving antiretroviral therapy in Haryana

An estimated 2.39 million Indians are currently living with HIV. In 2004, the Indian government began providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART), through ART centers. Adherence to ART is the most essential component of treatment success in HIV care. ART demands a minimum of 95 percentage adherence to avoid viral resistance and treatment failure. There is limited information available from Haryana on adherence to ART and its predictors. So this study was planned to determine patient adherence to ART and associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the ART Centre at Pt. B.D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana from December 2010 to May 2011. A total of 400 patients aged 18 years and above were selected randomly and interviewed using a pretested semi-structured schedule, after taking their written informed consent. The data collected were compiled in MS Excel and analysed using appropriate statistical tests. The mean age of patients was 35.33 years. The median time on ART was 20 months. Average 7-day adherence was 94.34 per cent. 23.5% reported missed doses over the past 7 days; 65.5 per cent of them reported missing a full day's medications. Common reasons for missing doses were “traveling / away from home” (27.6 %), “simply forgot” (21.6%), “ran out of pills” (17.2%) and “busy with other things” (13.8 %). There is a need to create an understanding among patients, their families and health care providers regarding importance of adherence to ART; and develop validated low-cost interventions that optimize adherence.