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. 2017 Jul;21(7):2135-2140.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-017-1760-3.

Self-Report and Dry Blood Spot Measurement of Antiretroviral Medications as Markers of Adherence in Pregnant Women in Rural South Africa

Maria L Alcaide  1 , Shandir Ramlagan  2 , Violeta J Rodriguez  3 , Ryan Cook  3   4 , Karl Peltzer  2   5   6 , Stephen M Weiss  3 , Sibusiso Sifunda  2 , Deborah L Jones  3
Affiliations

Self-Report and Dry Blood Spot Measurement of Antiretroviral Medications as Markers of Adherence in Pregnant Women in Rural South Africa

Maria L Alcaide et al. AIDS Behav. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Antiretroviral (ARV) adherence is essential to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This study compared self-reported adherence versus ARV detection in dried blood spots (DBS) among N = 392 HIV-infected pregnant women in South Africa (SA). Women completed two self-reported adherence measures [visual analog scale (VAS), AIDS Clinical Trials Group Adherence (ACTG)]. Adherence was 89% (VAS), 80% (ACTG), and 74% (DBS). Self-report measures marginally agreed with DBS (VAS: Kappa = 0.101, Area under the ROC curve (AUROC) = 0.543; ACTG: Kappa = 0.081, AUROC = 0.538). Self-reported adherence was overestimated and agreement with DBS was poor. Validation of self-reported ARV adherence among pregnant HIV+ women in SA is needed.

Keywords: Adherence; Antiretrovirals; HIV; Measurement; South Africa; Women.

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