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. 2017 Nov 9;12(11):e0186912.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186912. eCollection 2017.

Self-reported adherence and pharmacy refill adherence are both predictive for an undetectable viral load among HIV-infected migrants receiving cART

Sabrina K Been  1 , Elif Yildiz  1   2 , Pythia T Nieuwkerk  3 , Katalin Pogány  4 , David A M C van de Vijver  5 , Annelies Verbon  1   2
Affiliations

Self-reported adherence and pharmacy refill adherence are both predictive for an undetectable viral load among HIV-infected migrants receiving cART

Sabrina K Been et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

HIV-infected migrants were shown to have poorer treatment outcomes than Dutch HIV-infected patients, often due to worse treatment adherence. Self-reported adherence would be an easy way to monitor adherence, but its validity relative to pharmacy refill adherence has not been extensively evaluated in migrants. All HIV-infected migrants older than 18 years and in care at the two Rotterdam HIV-treatment centers were eligible. Refill data with leftover medication (PRL) (residual pill count) were obtained from their pharmacies up to 15 months prior to inclusion. Self-reported adherence to combination Antiretroviral Therapy was assessed by four questions about adherence at inclusion. Additionally, risk factors for pharmacy refill non-adherence were examined. In total, 299 HIV-infected migrants were included. Viral load (VL) was detectable in 11% of the patients. Specificity of PRL was 53% for patients with an adherence of 100% and decreased with lower cut-off values. Sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) were 68% and 15% and increased with lower cut-off values. Positive predictive value (PPV) was around 93% for all cut-off values. Using the self-reported questions, 139 patients (47%) reported to be adherent. Sensitivity was 49% and specificity was 72%. PPV and NPV were 95% and 13%. No risk factors for pharmacy refill non-adherence were found in multivariable analyses. Both PRL and self-reported adherence, can predict undetectable VL in HIV-infected migrants. PPV and NPV are similar for both methods. This study shows that using four self-reported items is sufficient to predict adherence which is crucial for optimal clinical outcome in HIV-infected migrants.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The institution of AV and SB has received an unrestricted scientific grant from the Dutch Aids Fonds to perform the study. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

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