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      A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Effects of Counseling and Alarm Device on HAART Adherence and Virologic Outcomes

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          Abstract

          Michael Chung and colleagues show that intensive early adherence counseling at HAART initiation resulted in sustained, significant impact on adherence and virologic treatment failure, whereas use of an alarm device had no effect.

          Abstract

          Background

          Behavioral interventions that promote adherence to antiretroviral medications may decrease HIV treatment failure. Antiretroviral treatment programs in sub-Saharan Africa confront increasing financial constraints to provide comprehensive HIV care, which include adherence interventions. This study compared the impact of counseling and use of an alarm device on adherence and biological outcomes in a resource-limited setting.

          Methods and Findings

          A randomized controlled, factorial designed trial was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya. Antiretroviral-naïve individuals initiating free highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the form of fixed-dose combination pills (d4T, 3TC, and nevirapine) were randomized to one of four arms: counseling (three counseling sessions around HAART initiation), alarm (pocket electronic pill reminder carried for 6 months), counseling plus alarm, and neither counseling nor alarm. Participants were followed for 18 months after HAART initiation. Primary study endpoints included plasma HIV-1 RNA and CD4 count every 6 months, mortality, and adherence measured by monthly pill count. Between May 2006 and September 2008, 400 individuals were enrolled, 362 initiated HAART, and 310 completed follow-up. Participants who received counseling were 29% less likely to have monthly adherence <80% (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.71; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.49–1.01; p = 0.055) and 59% less likely to experience viral failure (HIV-1 RNA ≥5,000 copies/ml) (HR 0.41; 95% CI 0.21–0.81; p = 0.01) compared to those who received no counseling. There was no significant impact of using an alarm on poor adherence (HR 0.93; 95% CI 0.65–1.32; p = 0.7) or viral failure (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.53–1.84; p = 1.0) compared to those who did not use an alarm. Neither counseling nor alarm was significantly associated with mortality or rate of immune reconstitution.

          Conclusions

          Intensive early adherence counseling at HAART initiation resulted in sustained, significant impact on adherence and virologic treatment failure during 18-month follow-up, while use of an alarm device had no effect. As antiretroviral treatment clinics expand to meet an increasing demand for HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa, adherence counseling should be implemented to decrease the development of treatment failure and spread of resistant HIV.

          Trial registration

          ClinicalTrials gov NCT00273780

          Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

          Editors' Summary

          Background

          Adherence to HIV treatment programs in poor countries has long been cited as an important public health concern, especially as poor adherence can lead to drug resistance and inadequate treatment of HIV. However, two factors have recently cast doubt on the poor adherence problem: (1) recent studies have shown that adherence is high in African HIV treatment programs and often better than in Western HIV clinics. For example, in a meta-analysis of 27 cohorts from 12 African countries, adequate adherence was noted in 77% of subjects compared to only 55% among 31 North America cohorts; (2) choice of antiretroviral regimens may impact on the development of antiretroviral resistance. In poor countries, most antiretroviral regimens contain non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), such as nevirapine or efavirenz, which remain in the patient's circulation for weeks after single-dose administration. This situation means that such patients may not experience antiretroviral resistance unless they drop below 80% adherence—contrary to the more stringent 95% plus adherence levels needed to prevent resistance in regimens based on unboosted protease inhibitors—ultimately, off-setting some treatment lapses in resource-limited settings where NNRTI-based regimens are widely used.

          Why Was This Study Done?

          Given that adherence may not be as crucial an issue as previously thought, antiretroviral treatment programs in sub-Saharan Africa may be spending scarce resources to promote adherence to the detriment of some potentially more effective elements of HIV treatment and management programs. Although many treatment programs currently include adherence interventions, there is limited quality evidence that any of these methods improve long-term adherence to HIV treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to identify adherence interventions that are inexpensive and proven to be effective in resource-limited settings. As adherence counseling is already widely implemented in African HIV treatment programs and inexpensive alarm devices are thought to also improve compliance, the researchers compared the impact of adherence counseling and the use of an alarm device on adherence and biological outcomes in patients enrolled in HIV programs in rural Kenya.

          What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

          The researchers enrolled 400 eligible patients (newly diagnosed with HIV, never before taken antiretroviral therapy, aged over 18 years) to four arms: (1) adherence counseling alone; (2) alarm device alone; (3) both adherence counseling and alarm device together; and (4) a control group that received neither adherence counseling nor alarm device. The patients had blood taken to record baseline CD4 count and HIV-1 RNA and after starting HIV treatment, returned to the study clinic every month with their pill bottles for the study pharmacist to count and recorded the number of pills remaining in the bottle, and to receive another prescription. Patients were followed up for 18 months and had their CD4 count and HIV-1 RNA measured at 6, 12, and 18 months.

          Patients receiving adherence counseling were 29% less likely to experience poor adherence compared to those who received no counseling. Furthermore, those receiving intensive early adherence counseling were 59% less likely to experience viral failure. However, there was no significant difference in mortality or significant differences in CD4 counts at 18 months follow-up between those who received counseling and those who did not. There were no significant differences in adherence, time to viral failure, mortality, or CD4 counts in patients who received alarm devices compared to those who did not.

          What Do These Findings Mean?

          The results of this study suggest that intensive adherence counseling around the time of HIV treatment initiation significantly reduces poor adherence and virologic treatment failure, while using an alarm device has no effect. Therefore, investment in careful counseling based on individual needs at the onset of HIV treatment initiation, appears to have sustained benefit, possibly through strengthening the relationship between the health care provider and patient through communication, education, and trust. Interactive adherence counseling supports the bond between the clinic and the patient and may result in fewer patients needing to switch to expensive second-line medications and, possibly, may help to decrease the spread of resistant HIV. These findings define an adherence counseling protocol that is effective and are highly relevant to other HIV clinics caring for large numbers of patients in sub-Saharan Africa.

          Additional Information

          Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000422.

          Related collections

          Most cited references37

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          Toward a theory of motivational interviewing.

          The widely disseminated clinical method of motivational interviewing (MI) arose through a convergence of science and practice. Beyond a large base of clinical trials, advances have been made toward "looking under the hood" of MI to understand the underlying mechanisms by which it affects behavior change. Such specification of outcome-relevant aspects of practice is vital to theory development and can inform both treatment delivery and clinical training. An emergent theory of MI is proposed that emphasizes two specific active components: a relational component focused on empathy and the interpersonal spirit of MI, and a technical component involving the differential evocation and reinforcement of client change talk. A resulting causal chain model links therapist training, therapist and client responses during treatment sessions, and posttreatment outcomes.
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            Rapid scale-up of antiretroviral therapy at primary care sites in Zambia: feasibility and early outcomes.

            The Zambian Ministry of Health has scaled-up human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) care and treatment services at primary care clinics in Lusaka, using predominately nonphysician clinicians. To report on the feasibility and early outcomes of the program. Open cohort evaluation of antiretroviral-naive adults treated at 18 primary care facilities between April 26, 2004, and November 5, 2005. Data were entered in real time into an electronic patient tracking system. Those meeting criteria for antiretroviral therapy (ART) received drugs according to Zambian national guidelines. Survival, regimen failure rates, and CD4 cell response. We enrolled 21,755 adults into HIV care, and 16,198 (75%) started ART. Among those starting ART, 9864 (61%) were women. Of 15,866 patients with documented World Health Organization (WHO) staging, 11,573 (73%) were stage III or IV, and the mean (SD) entry CD4 cell count among the 15,336 patients with a baseline result was 143/microL (123/microL). Of 1142 patients receiving ART who died, 1120 had a reliable date of death. Of these patients, 792 (71%) died within 90 days of starting therapy (early mortality rate: 26 per 100 patient-years), and 328 (29%) died after 90 days (post-90-day mortality rate: 5.0 per 100 patient-years). In multivariable analysis, mortality was strongly associated with CD4 cell count between 50/microL and 199/microL (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-2.0), CD4 cell count less than 50/microL (AHR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.5-3.1), WHO stage III disease (AHR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3-2.4), WHO stage IV disease (AHR, 2.9; 95% CI, 2.0-4.3), low body mass index (<16; AHR,2.4; 95% CI, 1.8-3.2), severe anemia (<8.0 g/dL; AHR, 3.1; 95% CI, 2.3-4.0), and poor adherence to therapy (AHR, 2.9; 95% CI, 2.2-3.9). Of 11,714 patients at risk, 861 failed therapy by clinical criteria (rate, 13 per 100 patient-years). The mean (SD) CD4 cell count increase was 175/microL (174/microL) in 1361 of 1519 patients (90%) receiving treatment long enough to have a 12-month repeat. Massive scale-up of HIV and AIDS treatment services with good clinical outcomes is feasible in primary care settings in sub-Saharan Africa. Most mortality occurs early, suggesting that earlier diagnosis and treatment may improve outcomes.
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              Prognosis in HIV-1 infection predicted by the quantity of virus in plasma.

              The relation between viremia and clinical outcome in individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) has important implications for therapeutic research and clinical care. HIV-1 RNA in plasma was quantified with a branched-DNA signal amplification assay as a measure of viral load in a cohort of 180 seropositive men studied for more than 10 years. The risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and death in study subjects, including those with normal numbers of CD4+ T cells, was directly related to plasma viral load at study entry. Plasma viral load was a better predictor of progression to AIDS and death than was the number of CD4+ T cells.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Academic Editor
                Journal
                PLoS Med
                PLoS
                plosmed
                PLoS Medicine
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                1549-1277
                1549-1676
                March 2011
                March 2011
                1 March 2011
                : 8
                : 3
                : e1000422
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
                [2 ]Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
                [3 ]Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
                [4 ]Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
                [5 ]Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
                [6 ]Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
                [7 ]Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
                [8 ]Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
                [9 ]Coptic Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya
                McMaster University, Canada
                Author notes

                ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: MHC BAR KT SBN JNK JAS JO MA GCJS. Agree with the manuscript's results and conclusions: MHC BAR KT SBN JNK JAS JO MA GCJS. Designed the experiments/the study: MHC BAR JAS MA GCJS. Analyzed the data: MHC BAR KT SBN JNK. Collected data/did experiments for the study: MHC JNK. Enrolled patients: MHC. Wrote the first draft of the paper: MHC. Contributed to the writing of the paper: MHC BAR KT SBN JNK JO GCJS. Oversaw virological aspects of the study, including data collection and integrity: JO.

                Article
                10-PLME-RA-5949R2
                10.1371/journal.pmed.1000422
                3046986
                21390262
                03d2c469-2bde-4c3a-a478-f0384500d92a
                Chung et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
                History
                : 17 August 2010
                : 19 January 2011
                Page count
                Pages: 11
                Categories
                Research Article
                Infectious Diseases/HIV Infection and AIDS
                Public Health and Epidemiology/Global Health

                Medicine
                Medicine

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