Level of Medication Adherence and Its Associated Factors among Patients Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy at a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India

Introduction: Anti-retro viral drugs are the corner stone of management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Anti-retro viral drugs have been consistently proven to reduce mortality due to HIV. The aim of this study was to identify the level of drug adherence and related challenges for adherence. Methods: A cross- sectional study was conducted in the antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Patients who were above 18 years of age, on ART for at least six months and underwent counselling before starting ART were included in the study (n = 143). Demographic variables and clinical profile were noted and level of drug adherence and associated factors were assessed using Morisky Green Levine test and check list respectively. Data was analysed in SPSS version 22. Results: Most of the study subjects (89.5%) had high level of medication adherence and 10.5% had medium level adherence. Factors contributing to high adherence level were confidentiality and trust among health workers, concerned about their own health, understanding about the prescribed drugs, idea about disease progression, effectiveness and knowledge of anti-retro viral drugs. Conclusion: Drug adherence was found to be high among HIV- infected patients in this study and various reasons contributed for the high adherence among the study subjects.