Impact of HIV disclosure and related predictors on CD4 cell count among adults under first-line ART regimen at Felege Hiwot comprehensive specialized referral hospital, North West Ethiopia.

Background: Disclosure of HIV status potentially leads patients aware of their infection and accelerates access to timely care. The main objective of the current study was to investigate the impact of disclosure and related predictors on CD4 cell count among HIV positive adults under first-line ART Regimen at Felege Hiwot Comprehensive specialized Hospital, North West Ethiopia.

Methods: A hospital based retrospective study design was conducted to investigate the impact of disclosure and related predictors on CD4 cell count. Independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the magnitude of CD4 cell count between adults disclosed and those who did not. A negative Binomial regression model was conducted to investigate the predictors of CD4 cell count.

Result: Out of 300 adult participants, about 76% of the patients disclosed their disease status to their family members. The correlation for CD4 cell count and disclosure of disease status was about 0.4607 which indicates that disclosure had a positive impact on the progress of CD4 cell count for HIV-adults under treatment. The current study indicates that among the predictor variables, age of patients (β= -0.0744, p-value = 0.0017), Visiting time (β = 0.005296, p-value = 0.0017), baseline CD4 cell count (β = 0.00526, p-value < 0.0001), disclosure of HIV disease (β = 0.5084, p-value < 0.0001), non-educated patients (β = -0.3720, p-value < 0.00009), employed patients (β = 0.2062, p-value < 0.0001), adherent patients (β = 0.1339, p-value < 0.0001), WHO stage I (β = 0.5712; p-value < 0.0001), TB infected HIV positive adult (β= -0.2035, p-value < 0.0008), HIV positive adults without opportunistic infection (β = 0.3001, p-value < 0.0001), Social support (β=- 0.1981, p-value < 0.0004) had significant effect for the variation of CD4 cell count.

Conclusion: The result of this study concluded that, disclosure of HIV disease status had positive significant impact for CD4 cell count among the patients under treatment at first line regimen. Especial attention should be given for HIV positive adults with TB and other opportunistic infection and for aged HIV patients. In addition, health staff should conduct health related education for individuals regard to use of medication adherence and use of disclosing HIV status for treatment outcomes.