%0 Journal Article
%T Difference in Adherence to Anti-Retroviral Therapy in Resource - Constrained Setting: Adolescents and Young Adults in Rural and Urban Residents in Nigeria
%J -
%D 2018
%X Adherence to antiretroviral medicines is essential to halt human immunodeficiency virus progression, increase CD4 counts, decrease virologic impact, and improve quality of life for the infected people. However, sustaining good adherence among adolescents and young adults has been a challenge caused by various problems such as distance to clinic, improved CD4 count which lead to complacency in adherence, and the nature of the environment. Compare to the general population, there is low adherence to anti-retroviral therapy among adolescents and young adults. The study aims to assess the difference in adherence to anti-retroviral therapy between adolescents and young adults in rural and urban areas in resource-constrained settings. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study carried out between January 2011 ¨C December 2014 with a sample size of 287 patients who accessed care for HIV in Federal Medical Center Makurdi, located in the Middle-Belt region of Nigeria. Univariate analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics. Pharmacy refill was used to measure adherence level while the data was analyzed using independent t-test and Chi-Square test. A p value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant in the study. In line with literature review, adherence level of at least 95% was considered optimal while anything less than that was deemed suboptimal. Adherence for patients in urban settings was 90.36% (182) while it was 95.12% (105) for those in rural settings (p = 0.001, 95% CI (-8.069, -1.450)). Among patients in rural settings, 57.14% (60) had adherence level of 100% compare to only 42.3% (77) from urban settings (p = 0.080, 95% CI (.052,.116)). Patients in rural settings in Federal Medical Center Makurdi in Benue State are more likely to have a comparative better health output than their counterparts in urban settings going by their adherence levels
%K Adherence
%K HIV
%K Young Adults
%K Adolescents
%K Urban and Rural
%U http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=326&doi=10.11648/j.cajph.20180406.11