Caregiver-reported adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV infected children in Mekelle, Ethiopia.
BACKGROUND
Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in children is complicated may be because of many factors such as child characteristics, caregiver and family characteristics, regimen characteristics, etc. Therefore, it is important to identify factors associated with adherence in HIV infected children in order to reduce the risk of developing treatment failure or drug resistance through interventions. This survey was planned to find out the rate of adherence to ART and its associated factors among the children in Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two hospitals in Mekelle: Ayder Referral Hospital and Mekelle Hospital, during the months of February to March 2013. A structured questionnaire was administered to caregivers to assess patient's adherence.


RESULTS
Out of a total of 193 patients, 83.4% as reported by caregivers were adherent to ART in the past seven days before the interview. On multivariate logistic regression model, it was found that the children whose caregivers were unmarried (AOR = 15.17, 95% CI: 3.36-68.43) and married (AOR = 3.54, 95% CI: 1.23-10.13) were more likely to adhere to their ART treatment than those whose caregivers were divorced/separated. Similarly, children whose caregivers' age groups of 25-34 (AOR = 22.27, 95% CI: 4.34-114.29) and 35-44 (AOR = 7.14, 95% CI: 1.65-30.95) were more likely to adhere than their counterparts. The major reasons reported by caregivers for missing medicines include: child being depressed (24.4%), drug side effects (16.3%), too many pills (15.5%) and difficulty in swallowing pills (13.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of adherence to ART among children was found to be high and comparable to that of other similar setups. Nevertheless, encouraging the fundamental role of caregivers is so significant to improve adherence among those who missed a dose or more and consequently treatment outcomes of children with HIV.
Department of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, P,O, Box 1871, Mekelle, Ethiopia. td.eticha@gmail.com.
Tadele
T
Eticha
Lwam
L
Berhane
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult; D016903:Drug Monitoring
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents