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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1384787
This article is part of the Research Topic Breaking Barriers, Bridging Gaps: UN World AIDS Day 2023 View all 9 articles

Time to Viral Load Suppression and Predictors among HIV Infected PeoplePeople Living with HIV Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy in Gebi Resu Zone, Afar Region, Ethiopia, 20232023

Provisionally accepted
Anteneh T. Chirnet Anteneh T. Chirnet 1*Ephrem M. Habtewold Ephrem M. Habtewold 1Haji Aman Haji Aman 1Elias B. Wakwoya Elias B. Wakwoya 2
  • 1 Adama General Hospital and Medical College, Adama, Ethiopia
  • 2 College of Health Science, Arsi University, Asella, Oromia, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: This study aimed to estimate the time to viral load suppression and identify its predictors among people living with HIV receiving Antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Gebi Resu zone, Afar Region, Ethiopia, 2023. Setting: The study was conducted in public health facilities in the Gebi Resu zone of Afar region. Study Design: This study is a facility based retrospective follow-up study. Study Participants: This study included 298 people living with HIV receiving ART service at selected health facilities of Gebi Resu zone. Data were collected by reviewing patient records using a structured checklist. Bivariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between variables and control confounders. Results: The incidence rate of viral load suppression was 9.46 per 100 person months. The median time to viral load suppression was 7.7 months with an interquartile range of 3.8 months (IQR=6.47-10.27). Patients at a clinical stages 3 and 4 (AHR=0.67, 95%CI (0.47, 0.96)), Patients who took Cotrimoxazole Prophylaxis Therapy (AHR=1.47, 95%CI (1.12, 1.92)), patients with poor drug adherence (AHR=0.40, 95%CI (0.18, 0.90)) were significantly associated with time to viral load suppression among people on antiretroviral therapy. Conclusions: The time to viral load suppression and the median time to viral load suppression among people living with HIV on ART were lower than in many developing and developed countries. Clinical stage, cotrimoxazole prophylaxis therapy, and drug adherence were significant predictors of viral load suppression.

    Keywords: Time to viral load Ssuppression, Anti-retroviralantiretoviral therapy, Ppredictors, Font: Not Bold, No underline

    Received: 10 Feb 2024; Accepted: 20 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chirnet, Habtewold, Aman and Wakwoya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Anteneh T. Chirnet, Adama General Hospital and Medical College, Adama, Ethiopia

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