HIV Treatment Adherence, Drug Resistance, Virologic Failure: Evolving Concepts

Jean      B. Nachega; Vincent      C. Marconi; Gert      U. van Zyl; Edward      M. Gardner; Wolfgang      Preiser; Steven      Y. Hong; Edward      J. Mills; Robert      Gross

doi:10.2174/187152611795589663

Abstract

Poor adherence to combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has been shown to be a major determinant of virologic failure, emergence of drug resistant virus, disease progression, hospitalizations, mortality, and health care costs. While high adherence levels can be achieved in both resource-rich and resource-limited settings following initiation of cART, long-term adherence remains a challenge regardless of available resources. Barriers to optimal adherence may originate from individual (biological, socio-cultural, behavioral), pharmacological, and societal factors. Although patients and providers should continuously strive for maximum adherence to cART, there is accumulating evidence that each class of antiretroviral therapy has specific adherence-drug resistance relationship characteristics allowing certain regimens more flexibility than others. There is not a universally accepted measure for cART adherence, since each method has distinct advantages and disadvantages including cost, complexity, accuracy, precision, intrusiveness and bias. Development of a real-time cART adherence monitoring tool will enable the development of novel, pre-emptive adherence-improving strategies. The application of these strategies may ultimately prove to be the most cost-effective method to reduce morbidity and mortality for the individual and decrease the likelihood of HIV transmission and emergence of resistance in the community.

Keywords: HIV, antiretroviral therapy adherence, virologic failure, drug resistance, outcomes, resource-rich and resource-limited settings, flexibility, complexity, real-time cART adherence monitoring tool, morbidity and mortality, cART, protease inhibitor, test and treat, HIV prevention strategies