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Older Adults Accessing HIV Care and Treatment and Adherence in the IeDEA Central Africa Cohort
Newman, J., Iriondo-Perez, J., Hemingway-Foday, J., Freeman, A., Akam, W., Balimba, A., Kalenga, L., Mbaya, M., Mfangam, MB., Mukumbi, H., Niyongabo, T., Atibu, J., Azinyue, I., & Kiumbu, M. (2012). Older Adults Accessing HIV Care and Treatment and Adherence in the IeDEA Central Africa Cohort. AIDS Research and Treatment, 2012, 725713.
Background. Very little is known about older adults accessing HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa. Materials and Methods. Data were obtained from 18,839 HIV-positive adults at 10 treatment programs in Burundi, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We compared characteristics of those aged 50+ with those aged 18-49 using chi-square tests. Logistic regression was used to determine if age was associated with medication adherence. Results. 15% of adults were 50+ years. Those aged 50+ were more evenly distributed between women and men (56% versus 44%) as compared to those aged 18-49 (71% versus 29%) and were more likely to be hypertensive (8% versus 3%) (P < 0.05). Those aged 50+ were more likely to be adherent to their medications than those aged 18-49 (P < 0.001). Adults who were not heavy drinkers reported better adherence as compared to those who reported drinking three or more alcoholic beverages per day (P < 0.001). Conclusions. Older adults differed from their younger counterparts in terms of medication adherence, sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical characteristics