IU School of Medicine Reports on Children's HIV

Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute and Moi University School of Medicine are the first to report that adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) to fight human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in children who live in low income countries is as high as or higher than adherence by children living in high income countries.

These findings, which were the results of review and analysis of all published studies of pediatric adherence to ART in low income countries, appear in the August 2008 issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, and provide the first complete picture of ART adherence among individuals under age 18 in limited income countries, as defined by the World Bank.

Ninety percent of the 2.3 million HIV-infected children in the world live in sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding children's adherence in resource-limited countries presents a critical challenge, because they have limited options if viral resistance develops.

The review by the American-Kenya research team found that 76 percent of the studies among children in lower income countries reported more than 75 percent adherence to their medicines for HIV. Other studies have shown a pediatric adherence rate of lower than 75 percent in high income countries.

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