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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Ashley M. Peterson, BA¹, Wendy Garland, MPH², Denise F. Johnson, MPH, PsyD², Mallory Witt, MD³, and Amy R. Wohl, PhD². (1) Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, HIV Epidemiology Program, 600 S. Commonwealth Ave., Ste 1920, Los Angeles, CA 90005, 213-351-8198, apeterson@ladhs.org, (2) HIV Epidemiology Program, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 600 S Commonwealth Ave., Ste 1920, Los Angeles, CA 90005, (3) Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Division of HIV Medicine, 1000 West Carson St., Bldg N-24, Room 36, Torrance, CA 90509

Background: Adherence to antiretroviral medications is integral to the success of HIV treatment. Monitoring adherence in a clinical setting provides insight into medication taking behavior and will allow tailored, effective treatment programs. Methods: Between July 2001 and June 2004, 302 participants in the Adult and Adolescent Spectrum of Disease study were administered a brief adherence survey at each of their routinely scheduled visits. The questionnaire assessed self-reported adherence in the week previous to the visit. Demographics of the study population and associations between these and self-reported adherence were evaluated. Results: 2969 interviews were collected from the 302 participants who were predominantly male (86%) aged 30 to 59 (88%) and Latino (53%) or African-American (28%). Forty-nine percent were men who have sex with men. The mean CD4+ cell count and viral load at study entrance was 175 cells/mL(SD=204) and 469 viral copies/mL(SD=33) respectively. Adherence of >95% in the previous 7 days was reported by 81%, in the previous 3 days by 87% and in the previous 24 hours by 92% of participants. Only 6% reported missing an entire day's medication in the previous three days. Nine percent of patients reporting <95% adherence had undetectable viral loads while 29% of patients reporting >95% adherence had undetectable viral loads (Χ²=4.1 p=0.04). Conclusions: Regular assessment of adherence to HAART is feasible as part of routine care. Valuable and pertinent information can be easily collected and rapidly assessed. This type of simple, repeated measure, follow-up study should also be used to evaluate trends in adherence.

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