Abstract:
Background: In the early years of introducing antiretroviral
therapy (ART), compromised adherence to ART in children,
from treatment interruptions, was a challenge partly due to
lack of trained or experienced personnel with expertise in
adherence counselling. Over subsequent years with
increasing expertise coupled with more patient education and
public awareness it is expected that these interruptions would
decline. We therefore determined the trend in ART
interruptions in a clinic cohort of HIV-1 infected children
attending the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of data on 580
children, aged 2 months – 15 years, who were enrolled on
ART between February 2006 and December 2010 at JUTH.
Children who had ART interruptions were compared with
those who did not. The odds of ART interruption versus no
ART interruption, across the categories of year enrolled on
ART were examined using the test of homogeneity of odds.
Abstract
The trend in ART interruptions over a period of 5 years was
examined using score test for trend of odds.
Results: The overall frequency of ART interruptionsper child
among the 580 study subjects over a period of 5 years was
20.2%, that is, 4.04% per year. The odds of ART
interruptions was different across the years from 2006 to 2010
(p= <0.0001). There was also evidence for a trend in the
decreasing odds of ART interruptions over the years (p=
<0.0001).
Conclusion: ART interruptions declined over the years in
children attending the HIV clinic and this may have been due
to enhanced ART adherence as a result of repeated health
education and decreasing HIV stigmatization.
