Abstract:
Background: Regardless of increasing access to ART services, numerous studies have demonstrated sub-optimal levels of viral suppression across different population groups in many low-resource countries. Particularly, adolescents living with HIV tend to experience worse immunological and viral suppression outcomes compared to adults, which in turn contributes to their higher mortality. Therefore, this study tried to assess the level of virologic suppression and the factors contributing to it in adolescents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Methods: A retrospective follow up study was done by using data on patient charts. Viral suppression was the primary outcome variable and independent variables were age, sex, duration on ART, TB infection, adherence status, disclosure status, ARV regimen type, WHO clinical staging, and nutritional status. Using Epi Info, a frequency table has been produced to learn the demographic and clinical characteristics of study participants. Following that, a bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were run to determine strengths of association between the independent variables and the outcome variable. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI was also calculated.
Results: A total of 346 adolescents (10-19) treated at Zewditu Memorial and Yekatit 12 Hospitals were included in this study. The mean age of the study participants was 15 with standard deviation of 2.60 years. 161 (46.53%) of the participants were female and 183 (53%) were male. Among the study participants, 330 (95.38%) were virally suppressed and the remaining 16 (4.62%) were not virally suppressed. The result shows that age is the highest predictor for viral suppression (OR=5.2), followed by treatment line (OR=4.4), and adherence (OR=3.9).
Conclusion: Age, treatment line, and adherence are the highest predictors of viral suppression among HIV-positive adolescents (10-19) treated at Zewditu Memorial and Yekatit 12 Hospitals. It is recommended that health facilities intensify their technical support to improve adherence giving priority for younger adolescents on first line treatment............................................ Thesis available at ACIPH