Influence of pill burden on adherence and effectiveness in patients treated with antiretro viral therapy

• Autores: M. M. Viña Romero, Javier Merino Alonso, Alejandro Jiménez Sastré, José Alejandro Medina García, F. Gutiérrez Nicolás
• Localización: European journal of clinical pharmacy: atención farmacéutica, ISSN 2385-409X, Vol. 18, Nº. 5, 2016, págs. 4-4
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Aim: This work has been aimed at assessing the influence that pill burden has on antiretroviral therapy adherence on those patients taking their medication in a single daily intake. Secondly, virologic failure was analyzed among adherents and non-adherents.

    Method: Three months long historical cohort study design, including patients undergoing single daily intake antiretroviral treatment for one or more years. Adherence was assessed through combination of three methods: two adherence surveys (SMAQ and ESPA) and the dispensation record during last year under treatment. Virologic failure was defined as the appearance of detectable viral load in two consecutive analytical determinations.

    Results: Adherence values were similar among both groups, regardless of the pill burden of the antiretroviral treatment, as long as all pills were taken in a single daily intake: OR = 0.726 (0.28-1.85); p = 0.503. Differences regarding virologic failure were detected among non-adherent patients: OR = 0.127 (0.035-0.46);

    p <0.002.

    Conclusions: Our study has shown that pill burden in a single daily intake does not significantly affect patients’ adherence, at least in our studied population. Also, virologic failure is higher among non-adherent patients than for adherent ones: 36.6 vs. 6.9% respectively