RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is crucial for success. Therefore, having validated tools to help assess adherence is necessary. The Health Resources and Services Administration assessed adherence as a Special Project of National Significance (SPNS). As a result of their study, a 3-question survey was developed as a simple tool to assess adherence in patients with HIV/AIDS. OBJECTIVE: To validate the SPNS adherence survey as an accurate and effective way to assess adherence and to determine whether any other independent variables correlate with a significant reduction in viral load. METHODS: The study was a retrospective chart review of 300 patients actively enrolled in an HIV/AIDS clinic from January 2007 to September 2007. Patients were eligible for the study if they had been on HAART for at least 6 months, were > or =18 years old, and had completed at least 2 surveys. RESULTS: A total of 74 patients met the criteria; the majority were male (75.3%) and African American (91.9%). Twenty-six (35.1%) patients had scores < or =10, indicating poorer adherence, and 48 (64.9%) patients had scores > or =11. The mean number of antiviral plus other medications was 4.4. Dosing of HAART drugs was once (5 nonadherent, 23 adherent pts.) and twice (21, 25 pts., respectively) daily, and mean number of different antiretroviral tablets/capsules being taken was 1.7 and 1.5, respectively. The nonadherent patients' average viral load was 15,202.3 copies/mL, while the adherent patients' average viral load was 163.8 copies/mL (p = 0.001) The SPNS score was significantly associated with HIV-RNA viral load (-0.482, p < 0.001). There also was a significant association between a higher HIV-RNA viral load and the total number of medications a patient was taking, as well as the number of different antiretroviral tablets/capsules being taken (0.299, p = 0.01; 0.249, p = 0.03). There was no significant difference in HIV-RNA viral load when comparing age, sex, race, income, and frequency of HIV drug dosing. CONCLUSIONS: The SPNS survey is a valid and simple tool in measuring adherence that can aid health-care professionals in assessing adherence to HAART.