title: Influence of the number of daily pills and doses on adherence to antiretroviral treatment: a 7-year study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Antiretroviral treatment (ART) is hampered by complicated regimens, high pill burden, drug-drug interactions, and frequent short- and long-term adverse effects, leading to decreased adherence. Over recent years, considerable effort has been directed at developing regimens that are less burdening. We undertook a 7-year retrospective study of the records of 264 HIV-infected subjects enrolled in a pharmaceutical care programme to document the progress made and to study the influence of the number of ART pills and doses on the level of treatment adherence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antiretroviral dispensing records were analysed for the number of pills and doses administered and the ART adherence rate estimated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In 2005, the patients took a mean of 6·2 pills daily (CI 95%: 5·9-6·6), and 92·9% of them were on a twice-a-day (BID) dosage regimen. By 2012, the mean number of pills was reduced to 4·1 (CI 95%: 3·8-4·4), and only 50·9% were on a BID regimen. No statistically significant relation was observed between number of daily pills and doses and ART adherence reached by the patients in any of the analyses performed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There has been a continuous reduction in the number of pills and doses of antiretrovirals taken by individual patients over the last 7 years due largely to the introduction of improved treatments and regimens. More daily pills or doses was not associated with worse ART adherence in our pharmaceutical care programme.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Service, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hernández Arroyo
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Institute, University Austral of Chile, Valdivia, Chile.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Cabrera Figueroa
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sepúlveda Correa
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Service, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Valverde Merino
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease Service, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luna Rodrigo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Domínguez-Gil Hurlé
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents
keywords: AIDS; HIV; antiretroviral treatment adherence; daily doses; pill burden