Cristina Barroso Hofer|Mauro Schechter|Lee H. Harrison
Effectiveness of Antiretroviral Therapy Among Patients Who Attend Public HIV Clinics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
objective brazil provides antiretroviral therapy art hivinfected persons free charge objective study investigate factors associated art failure patients receiving free art public clinics brazil methods crosssectional study adults taking art 6 24 months 5 public clinics rio de janeiro patients interviewed charts reviewed following definitions response therapy 6 months used virologic responders vr 1 log reduction plasma viral load vl immunologic responders ir increase 50 cd4 cellsml complete responders cr vr ir nonresponders nr neither vr ir results 211 patients enrolled 173 82 vr ir cr 38 18 nr responders 28 13 ir 32 15 vr 113 53 cr multivariate analysis factors associated nr less 80 adherence 86 95 ci 29257 baseline cd4 count 05 per 50 cellsml 95 ci 0211 interval starting art first vlcd4 testing 14 month 95 ci 1118 opportunistic disease starting art 68 95 ci 14340 inability read prescription 39 95 ci 14109 believing physician knowledgeable hiv 40 95 ci 11150 friend hiv 61 95 ci 17218 believing art make himher ill 56 95 ci 17188 believing art delay hiv progression 0001 95 ci 0002 conclusion proportion patients responding art brazil similar reports developed countries suggesting art used successfully developing countries variables related adherence knowledge perceptions art associated lack response art findings important implications developing nations considering increased access art