Sexual Behaviors and Transmission Risks Among People Living with HIV: Beliefs, Perceptions, and Challenges to Using Treatments as Prevention.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) improves the health of people living with HIV and can reduce infectiousness, preventing HIV transmission. The potential preventive benefits of ART are undermined by beliefs that it is safe to have condomless sex when viral load is below levels of detection (infectiousness beliefs and risk perceptions). In this study, we hypothesized that infectiousness beliefs and HIV transmission risk perceptions would prospectively predict people living with HIV engaging in more condomless sex with HIV-negative and unknown HIV status sex partners. Sexually active HIV-positive men (n = 538, 76 %) and women (n = 166, 24 %) completed computerized interviews of sexually transmitted infection (STI) symptoms and diagnoses, unannounced pill counts for medication adherence, medical chart-abstracted HIV viral load, and 28 daily cell-phone-delivered prospective sexual behavior assessments. Results showed that a total of 313 (44 %) participants had engaged in condomless sex with HIV-negative/unknown status sex partners, and these individuals demonstrated higher rates of STI symptoms and diagnoses. Two-thirds of participants who had condomless sex with HIV-negative/unknown status partners had not disclosed their HIV status. Multivariable logistic regression models showed that beliefs regarding viral load and HIV infectiousness and perceptions of lower risk of HIV transmission resulting from HIV viral suppression predicted condomless sex with potentially uninfected partners over and above sex behaviors with HIV-positive partners and STI symptoms/diagnoses. Interventions that address HIV status disclosure and aggressively treat STI in sexually active people living with HIV should routinely accompany the use of HIV treatments as prevention.

Medication Adherence and Health Outcomes of People Living with HIV Who Are Food Insecure and Prescribed Antiretrovirals That Should Be Taken with Food.

INTRODUCTION: Food insecurity is a well-established predictor of poor health outcomes. Antiretroviral therapies (ARTs) that should be taken with food to increase bioavailability may further challenge food insecure patients. This study examined factors associated with antiretroviral adherence and HIV viral suppression among people living with HIV who are food insecure and prescribed medications that require food. METHODS: A community sample of 313 men and 105 women who experienced food insecurity in the previous month and were currently taking ART completed computerized interviews, urine screening for drug use, prospective biweekly unannounced pill count adherence assessments, and obtained their HIV viral load and CD4 cell counts from medical records. RESULTS: Individuals taking ART regimens that should be taken with food were significantly more likely to be unemployed, were living longer with an HIV diagnosis, had lower CD4 cell counts, poorer HIV suppression, and endorsed more beliefs that taking medications was necessary for their health. Multivariable regression models controlling for potential confounding factors showed that receiving ART that requires food was significantly related to poorer ART adherence and unsuppressed HIV in this food insecure sample. CONCLUSION: People living with HIV who are food insecure likely experience multiple facets of poverty that challenge their medication adherence, but food insecurity is the only such factor that is directly related to the pharmacokinetics of some antiretroviral medications. Achieving optimal treatment outcomes for HIV infection will require routine assessment of access to food when determining patient-tailored ART regimens.

Treatment outcomes among people living with HIV who are food insecure and prescribed antiretrovirals taken with food.

BACKGROUND: Food insecurity is a known barrier to medication adherence among people living with HIV. Antiretroviral therapies (ART) that require food likely pose added challenges to patients who do not have reliable access to food. This study examines the health implications of prescribing ART that requires food to patients who are food insecure. METHOD: A community sample of 538 men and 221 women currently taking ART to treat their HIV infection completed computerized interviews, biweekly unannounced pill count adherence assessments, and obtained their HIV RNA (viral load) and CD4 cell count from medical records. RESULTS: Sixty-three percent of participants experienced at least 1 indicator of food insecurity during the previous month, of which 274 (57%) were prescribed an ART regimen that requires food. Among participants who were food insecure, individuals taking ART requiring food indicated significantly greater HIV symptoms, had lower CD4 cell counts, and poorer HIV suppression. For participants who were food secure, those taking ART that requires food were significantly less adherent than those whose ART regimen does not require food. CONCLUSIONS: People living with HIV who experience food insecurity are significantly more likely to be prescribed ART regimens that require food and experience poorer treatment outcomes. Determination of optimal ART regimens should take patient access to food into account and treatment guidelines should explicitly highlight the importance of food access in selecting ART regimens.

Intentional Medication Nonadherence Because of Interactive Toxicity Beliefs Among HIV-Positive Active Drug Users.

BACKGROUND: Drug use poses significant challenges to medical management of HIV infection. Although most research has focused on the influence of intoxication on unintentional adherence to HIV treatment, drug use may also lead to intentional nonadherence, particularly when individuals believe that mixing medications with drugs is harmful. This study examined whether interactive toxicity beliefs predict nonadherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) over a prospective period of adherence monitoring. METHODS: Men and women living with HIV who screened positive for drug use and were being treated with ART (n = 530) completed computerized self-interviews and 3 prospective unannounced pill counts to measure ART adherence and provided urine specimens for drug screening and HIV viral load results from medical records. RESULTS: Results showed that 189 (35%) participants indicated that they intentionally miss their ART when they are using drugs. These participants also reported common beliefs regarding the perceived hazards of mixing HIV medications with alcohol and other drugs. Multivariable models controlled for demographic and health characteristics and frequency of alcohol use showed that intentional nonadherence predicted poorer ART adherence over the prospective month and also predicted poorer treatment outcomes as indexed by unsuppressed HIV viral load. CONCLUSIONS: These findings extend previous research to show that interactive toxicity beliefs and intentional nonadherence play a significant role in medication nonadherence for a substantial number of people living with HIV and should be actively addressed in HIV clinical care.