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Plasma Drug Level Validates Self-Reported Adherence but Predicts Limited Specificity for Nonadherence to Antiretroviral Therapy
Introduction. Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low-income countries is mainly assessed by self-reported adherence (S-RA) without drug level determination. Nonadherence is an important factor in the emergence of resistance to ART, presenting a need for drug level determination. Objective....
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Published in: | ISRN pharmacology 2012, Vol.2012 (2012), p.1-7 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Introduction. Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low-income countries is mainly assessed by self-reported adherence (S-RA) without drug level determination. Nonadherence is an important factor in the emergence of resistance to ART, presenting a need for drug level determination. Objective. We set out to establish the relationship between plasma stavudine levels and S-RA and validate S-RA against the actual plasma drug concentrations. Methods. A cross-sectional investigation involving 234 patients in Uganda. Stavudine plasma levels were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. We compared categories of plasma levels of stavudine with S-RA using multivariable logistic regression models. Results. Overall, 194/234 patients had S-RA ≥ 95% (good adherence) and 166/234 had stavudine plasma concentrations ≥ 36 nmol/L (therapeuticconcentration). Patients with good S-RA were eight times more likely to have stavudine levels within therapeutic concentration (Adjusted Odds Ratio: 7.7, 95% Confidence Interval: 3.5–7.0). However, of the 194 patients with good S-RA, 21.7% had below therapeutic concentrations. S-RA had high sensitivity for adherence (91.6%), but limited specificity for intrinsic poor adherence (38.2%). Conclusions. S-RA is a good tool for assessing adherence, but has low specificity in detecting nonadherence, which has implications for emergence of resistance. |
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ISSN: | 2090-5165 2090-5173 2090-5173 |
DOI: | 10.5402/2012/274978 |