Depression and coping are associated with failure of adherence to antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV/aids

Abstract

Sustained adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is critical in the prevention of drug resistance, disease progression, and death. We aimed to assess the level of ART adherence among 112 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and to determine associated factors with that. The socioeconomic aspects were evaluated by medical records; the adherence, depression, and coping by specific questionnaires. Although most patients have undetectable viral load (79%) and CD4+ T count >500 cells/mm3 (65%), two-third (66%) of them exhibited a lower adherence, which was directly associated with some signs of depression (p = .006) presented by 65% of them. Some risk factors to presence of depression were female gender (p = .008) and low income (p = .013). In addition, most participants who reported tobacco (33%) and alcohol (29%) consumption had a low or intermediate adherence score. Among the coping strategies, self-control (p = .029), social support (p = .006), problem solving (p = .013), and positive reappraisal (p = .049) led to an improvement in adherence.