One Pill, Once a Day: Simplified Treatment Regimens and Retention in HIV Care.
Am J Epidemiol
; 191(6): 999-1008, 2022 05 20.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35081613
ABSTRACT
Simplified drug regimens may improve retention in care for persons with chronic diseases. In April 2013, South Africa adopted a once-daily single-pill human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment regimen as the standard of care, replacing a multiple-pill regimen. Because the regimens had similar biological efficacy, the shift to single-pill therapy offered a real-world test of the impact of simplified drug-delivery mechanisms on patient behavior. Using a quasi-experimental regression discontinuity design, we assessed retention in care among patients starting HIV treatment just before and just after the guideline change. The study included 4,484 patients starting treatment at a large public sector clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. The share of patients prescribed a single-pill regimen increased by over 40 percentage points between March and April 2013. Initiating treatment after the policy change was associated with 11.7-percentage-points' higher retention at 12 months (95% confidence interval -2.2, 29.4). Findings were robust to different measures of retention, different bandwidths, and different statistical models. Patients starting treatment early in HIV infection-a key population in the test-and-treat era-experienced the greatest improvements in retention from single-pill regimens.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Infecções por HIV
/
Fármacos Anti-HIV
Tipo de estudo:
Guideline
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Epidemiol
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article