Giulia Martelli|R. Antonucci|Alphonsina Mukurasi|Henry Zepherine|Christiana Nöstlinger
Adherence to antiretroviral treatment among children and adolescents in Tanzania: Comparison between pill count and viral load outcomes in a rural context of Mwanza region
Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde|Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
adherence antiretroviral treatment key challenge paediatric hiv care among children adolescents living hiv lower levels adherence reported compared adults individual caregiver health servicesrelated sociocultural factors shown impact outcomes study objectives assess adherence paediatric population rural tanzania comparing two measurement methods investigate association virologic suppression demographic clinical drug familyrelated factorsthis crosssectional study conducted among children adolescents enrolled bukumbi hiv care treatment clinic misungwi district mwanza region north tanzania hiv prevalence 72 adherence measured viral load pill count kappa statistics assessed level agreement methods bivariate multivariable analyses identified factors independently associated virologic suppressionn 72 participants n 49 children n 23 adolescents median age eight years enrolled 625 653 individuals presented optimal adherence according viral load pill count respectively among 40 viral load results diverged pill count method multivariable analysis living outside misungwi district cd4 counts 500l significantly associated optimal adherencechildren adolescents living hiv mwanza show high rates suboptimal adherence poor agreement pill count viral load results raises concerns interpretation measurements clinical practice