Individual factors associated with time to non-adherence to ART pick-up within HIV care and treatment services in three health facilities of Zambézia Province, Mozambique.

INTRODUCTION: Mozambique has made significant gains in addressing its HIV epidemic, yet adherence to visit schedules remains a challenge. HIV programmatic gains to date could be impaired if adherence and retention to ART remains low. We investigate individual factors associated with non-adherence to ART pick-up in Mozambique. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort of patients initiating ART between January 2013 and June 2014. Non-adherence to ART pick-up was defined as a delay in pick-up ≥ 15 days. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Adherence to ART pick-up was assessed using Kaplan Meier estimates. Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine factors associated with non-adherence. RESULTS: 1,413 participants were included (77% female). Median age was 30.4 years. 19% of patients remained adherent to ART pick-up during the evaluation period, while 81% of patients were non-adherent to ART pick-up. Probability of being non-adherent to ART pick-up by 166 days following initiation was 50%. In univariate analysis, being widowed was associated with higher adherence to ART pick-up than other marital status groups (p = 0.01). After adjusting, being ≥35 years (aHR: 0.843, 95% CI: 0.738-0.964, p = 0.012); receiving efavirenz (aHR: 0.932, 95% CI: 0.875-0.992, p = 0.026); and being urban (aHR: 0.754, 95% CI: 0.661-0.861, p<0.0001) were associated with improved adherence. Non-participation in a Community ART Support Group (CASG) was associated with a 43% increased hazard of non-adherence to ART pick-up (aHR 1.431, 1.192-1.717, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Interventions should focus on the first 6 months following ARV initiation for improvements. Younger persons and widows are two target groups for better understanding facilitators and barriers to visit schedule adherence. Future strategies should explore the benefits of joining CASGs earlier in one´s treatment course. Finally, greater efforts should be made to accelerate the scale-up of viral load capacity and HIV resistance monitoring.

Current treatment strategies, complications and considerations for the use of HIV antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy.

The global prevalence of HIV infection in the female population presents a significant healthcare burden in terms of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the disease. This review aims to discuss current trends and treatment guidelines for the use of antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy and associated complications in this population. Historically, antiretroviral monotherapy with zidovudine was commonly used for preventing MTCT, and monotherapy with single-dose nevirapine is still used for prevention in resource-limited settings. Evidence suggests that combination therapy with HAART is a more effective treatment option than monotherapy when managing HIV in pregnant women. Current treatment guidelines recommend the use of HAART with a protease inhibitor (PI) or a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) plus two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) as first-line therapy for the management of HIV infection in pregnant women and for preventing MTCT. Complications associated with the use of antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy should be taken into consideration when selecting a new antiretroviral regimen, or when continuing certain antiretroviral regimens in HIV-infected women who become pregnant while on therapy. NNRTI have been associated with severe and sometimes fatal hepatoxicity in some pregnant women and potentially teratogenic side effects in the fetus, and their use raises concerns regarding the development of drug- and class-resistant mutations. PI-based HAART has been associated with an increased risk of adverse effects such as premature delivery, low birth weight, dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance, and lipodystrophy. Despite this, initiating antiretroviral therapy with a PI plus two NRTI may become the preferred treatment option in pregnant women. Many of the side effects associated with PI were more prevalent when older PI and PI-based regimens that included those in combination with thymidine analog NRTI were used. An individual's history and baseline clinical and laboratory parameters should also be taken into consideration when choosing the most appropriate antiretroviral regimen during pregnancy.

[Factors associated with virological response in women receiving highly-active antiretroviral prophylaxis for HIV-1 mother-to-child transmission]. / Factores asociados a respuesta virológica en mujeres que usaron profilaxis antirretroviral de gran actividad para transmisión materno-fetal del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana tipo 1.

INTRODUCTION: Pregnancy is the only circumstance in HIV infection requiring urgent virological response to the antiviral approach because of the influence of plasma viral load (VL) on mother-to-child transmission (MCT) of the disease. This study analyzes factors related to the time needed to reach VL < 400 copies/mL during antiretroviral prophylaxis for MCT. METHODS: The study included a cohort of HIV-1 infected pregnant women enrolled between 2000 and 2005 with baseline CD4+ lymphocyte count > 300 cells/microL, highly-active antiretroviral prophylaxis for at least 4 weeks, antiretroviral interruption after delivery, and available laboratory data. RESULTS: Seventy-five pregnancies were analyzed. Median baseline VL was 3.71 log(10) copies/mL and CD4+ count was 573 cells/microL. Prophylaxis started after 26.6 weeks of gestation and lasted up to 11.7 weeks in 75% of cases. The prophylactic regimen was changed in 12 pregnancies, 7 because of toxicity. A protease inhibitor was included in 33 prophylactic regimens, 11 of them with lopinavir. Prophylaxis resulted in undetectable HIV-1 VL within 6.7 weeks in 75% of pregnancies. VL was detectable at the end of prophylaxis in 5 cases. Time to undetectable VL was shorter if baseline VL was less than 100,000 copies/mL and the antiretroviral regimen was not changed during prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: To achieve VL < 400 copies/mL at delivery, antiretroviral prophylaxis should be started before 26 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. A potent and well-tolerated prophylactic antiretroviral regimen will likely reduce the time to virological response. Trials investigating alternative regimens (e.g., lopinavir-containing) for patients with late diagnosis during prenatal care or VL >100,000 copies/mL are warranted.