Immunological and virological discordance among people living with HIV on highly active antiretroviral therapy in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with immuno-virological discordant responses are at an increased risk to develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and severe non AIDS events which are risk factors for death. This study was aimed to assess prevalence of immuno- virological discordant responses and associated risk factors among highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) users in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted from September to December 30, 2016 on 260 people living with HIV who started first line HAART from January 2008 to March 2016 at Mekelle hospital and Ayder comprehensive specialized hospital. Baseline and follow-up clinical data and CD4+ result were collected from patient charts. Besides, socio-demographic data and blood samples for CD4 (+) count and viral load measurement were collected during data collection period. Fisher’s exact test, bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used for data analysis. P-value < 0.05 with 95% CI was considered as statistically significant. RESULT: Among the 260 study participants, 8.80% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) =8.77–8.84%) and 2.70% (95% CI = 2.68–2.72%) had virological and immunological discordant responses, respectively with an overall immuno-virological discordance response of 11.50% (95% CI = 11.46–11.54%). The median age of the study participants at HAART initiation was 35 (IQR: 28–44 years). More than half (58.1%) of the study participants were females. Age at or below 35 years old at HAART initiation (AOR ((95% CI) = 4.25(1.48–12.23), p = 0.007)), male gender ((Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) (95% CI) =1.71(1.13–1.10), p = 0.029)), type of regimen given ((AOR(95% CI) = 0.30 (0.10–0.88), p = 0.028)) and good treatment adherence ((AOR (95% CI) = 0.12 (0.030–0.0.48), p = 0.003)) were associated risk factors for virological discordant response. Likewise, immunological discordant response was associated with tuberculosis co-infections (p = 0.016), hepatitis B virus co-infections (p = 0.05) and low CD4+ count (≤100 cells/μl) at baseline (p = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS: Over all, immuno-virological discordance response was 11.5% in the study area. Males, low baseline CD4+ count, poor/fair treatment adherence, and TB and HBV co-infections were significantly associated with higher immuno-virological discordance. We recommend that decision of patient treatment outcome, regimen change and patient management response should be done using trends of both viral load and CD4+ count concurrently. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-021-06206-4.