Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy Among Children in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

• Published in: AIDS and behavior Vol. 22; no. 8; pp. 2513 - 2523
• Main Authors: Endalamaw, Aklilu, Tezera, Nega, Eshetie, Setegn, Ambachew, Sintayehu, Habtewold, Tesfa Dejenie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adhesion; Adult; AIDS; Antiretroviral agents; Antiretroviral drugs; Antiretroviral therapy; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active - methods; Child; Child mortality; Children; Children & youth; Drug therapy; Ethiopia - epidemiology; Evidence-based medicine; Female; Health behavior; Health Psychology; Highly active antiretroviral therapy; HIV; HIV - drug effects; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - psychology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infant; Infectious Diseases; Male; Mathematical models; Medication Adherence - statistics & numerical data; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meta-analysis; Morbidity; Patient compliance; Prescription drugs; Prevalence; Public Health; Random effects; Subgroups; Substantive Review; Systematic review; Therapy; Treatment Outcome; Windows (intervals); Ethiopia; Medicamentos; Highly active; Niños; Meta-análisis; Antiretroviral therapy; Meta-analysis; Adherence; HIV; VIH; Etiopía; Terapia antirretroviral altamente activa; Medication; Children; Adherencia; Ethiopia
• ISSN: 1090-7165; 1573-3254
• DOI: 10.1007/s10461-018-2152-z

Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is the mainstay of the strategy in reducing morbidity and mortality of HIV-infected children. Different primary studies were conducted in Ethiopia. Thus, we aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of the national prevalence of optimal adherence to HAART in children. In addition, associated factors of HAART adherence were reviewed. A weighted inverse variance random-effects model was applied. The 88.7 and 93.7% of children were adhering to HAART at 07 and 03 days prior to an interview respectively. The subgroup analysis showed that HAART adherence was 93.4% in Amhara, 90.1% in Addis Ababa and 87.3% in Tigray at 07 days prior to an interview. Our study suggests that, within short window reported time, adherence to HAART in Ethiopian children may be in a good progress. Emphasis on specific adherence interventions need further based on individual predictors to improve overall HAART adherence of children.