Adhering to HIV Treatment During Initial Months Is Key

Those who adhered well for the first four months after starting treatment were more likely to sustain viral suppression.

March 22, 2017

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Adhering well to an antiretroviral (ARV) regimen during the first few months after starting treatment for HIV raises the likelihood of maintaining viral suppression in the long run, aidsmap reports.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, researchers from the prospective, multi-center French APROCO-COPILOTE study followed 891 people with HIV who started an ARV regimen with a first-generation protease inhibitor between 1997 and 1999. The participants started the study with a median 286 CD4s and a median viral load of 29,000. They were followed for an average of nine years and a median of 11 years.

After four months of treatment, 57 percent had high adherence (100 percent of reported doses), 33 percent had medium adherence (80 percent to 99.9 percent of doses) and 10 percent had poor adherence (less than 80 percent of doses). During the study’s follow-up period, 66 percent of the participants maintained high adherence, 25 percent wavered between high and medium adherence and 9 percent were poorly adherent during at least one period.

Compared with reporting low adherence during the first four months of treatment, reporting high adherence during that time was associated with a 3.73-fold greater likelihood of prolonged viral suppression.

Looking at the period spanning months 20 to 144 after the participants started treatment, the researchers found that compared with those who reported an episode of poor adherence, those who reported high and moderate adherence were a respective 3.28-fold and 2.26-fold more likely to have a persistently undetectable viral load.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.

Read more articles from POZ, here.