Understand Adherence in the treatment of HIV

When it comes to HIV treatment, "taking your medication as directed" takes on a whole new meaning. Most treatment regimens contain 3 or more medications, each taken 1 to 3 times a day with potential side effects. Each medication can have different rules about food - one may need to be taken on an empty stomach, while another may need to be taken during a meal.

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So, when you are busy at work, traveling, or feeling sick, does it really matter if you miss just one dose of medication? It certainly does. Missing just one dose can reduce the level of drug in your body and give HIV a chance to replicate. If you miss doses, your medications may no longer be effective, drug resistance can develop and the virus may no longer be controlled. Poor adherence can give HIV an opportunity to attack your immune system, leaving you at risk of other infections and conditions that your body is unable to fight off.

Why It's Important

Achieve Treatment Success

Why It Is Important

Adherence directly impacts on how well antiretroviral (ARV) medications stop HIV from reproducing. When you skip a dose of medication, the virus has the opportunity to reproduce, which it does very quickly. When this happens, your viral load (the amount of HIV in a blood sample) increases. Often when your viral load goes up, your CD4 count, which is a measure of how healthy your immune system is, goes down. A weak immune system puts you at risk of developing AIDS-related conditions and even death.

Adherence is vitally important in the treatment of HIV. Researchers have found that optimal suppression of the virus requires around 95% adherence.

A lack of adherence also can cause drug resistance. When the virus makes copies of itself, some of the copies are not perfect. These are known as mutations and some of them may be resistant to one or more of the medications you are taking and render them useless.

Achieve Treatment Success

Your first treatment regimen should be jointly decided between yourself and your doctor to ensure it gives you the best chance for long-term success and fits in with your lifestyle. If your first treatment regimen is difficult to take or causes you problems, it may impact on your adherence both now and with any future treatments you may be prescribed. So it is very important to take your drugs correctly, right from the start. Many people find that adherence to treatment becomes more difficult over time. It is important to talk with your physician about any issues you may be having with your treatment plan, because patients who take their medication correctly achieve the best results.

For tips on how to make sure you take your medications consistently, click here.

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