Adherence to antiretroviral drugs in North-Central zone of Nigeria

A cross-sectional study of 110 patients attending State House Clinic, Abuja were assessed for compliance in time and dose of anti-retroviral drugs for one month. One hundred and five of the patients complied to taking the drugs (taking complience >95%) and compliance to the dosage was also good (98.1%). However, the mean timing compliance was not good (73.1%). Forgetfulness (7.0%) and travelling out of town (4.3%) were the commonest reasons for missing a dose. Forgetfulness (20%), non-availability of food (25.5%) and stigmatization of carrying drugs around (3.6%) were the commonest reasons for altering the dosing time. It was concluded that the timing compliance was low and that may affect the success of the program. Patients should be encouraged to take the right dose at the right time. Keywords : adherence, antiretroviral drugs, taking compliance, timing compliance, dosing compliance The East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 7(3) 2004: 52-55