Effect of nutritional factors on adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV-infected adults: a case control study in Northern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Adherence to antiretroviral treatment is critical for suppression of viral replication, reduced destruction of CD(4) cells, prevention of viral resistance, promotion of immune reconstitution and slowed disease progression. This study sought to determine the effect of nutritional factors on adherence to ART among HIV-infected adults on ART. METHODS: Matched case control study design (matched by age and sex) was employed. Data was collected from ART registration chart, pre-tested structured data extraction format, anthropometric measurements and by interview. Conditional logistic regression was used to compute the relevant associations among the variables by STATA version 10. RESULTS: From 174 paired subjects participated in the study 80 (46%) pair were males and 94 (54%) pair were females on ART for at least one year prior to the survey. The mean age (±SD) for the non-adherent was 38.4 ± 8.1years and for the adherent subjects was 38.5 ± 8.4 years. Malnutrition with BMI less than 18.5 Kg/m(2) in the adherent group was 14 (8%) and that of the non-adherent group was 74 (42.5%) which was associated with non-adherence to ART (AOR 10.0, 95%CI 4.3 – 54.7). Inability to get enough and quality food was also associated with non-adherence to ART (AOR 2.1, 95%CI 1.1 – 11.5). CONCLUSIONS: Malnutrition, inability to get enough and/or quality food and consumption pattern which is less than three meals per day were significantly associated with non-adherence to ART. Therefore, the capacity to effectively manage the food and nutrition implications of ART adherence is a critical factor in the success of antiretroviral therapy in resource limited settings.