Self-reported symptoms after initiation of a protease inhibitor in HIV-infected patients and their impact on adherence to HAART.

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to assess short-term self-reported symptoms in patients who were started on two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and one protease inhibitor (PI) in the multicenter APROCO cohort (N = 336) and to assess the influence of these symptoms on adherence.
Method: Adherence and patient's reported symptoms were measured at 1 and 4 months (M) after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) through self-administered questionnaires.
Results: Most patients reported at least one symptom (94.0% at M1; 88.0% at M4); fatigue and diarrhea were the most often reported symptoms. Respectively, 81.3% and 75.0% of patients were strictly adherent to HAART during the 4 days prior to M1 and M4 visits. After adjustment for younger age, history of antiretroviral treatment, unstable housing, poor social support, and alcohol consumption, patients who reported a high number of symptoms at M1 were more likely to be nonadherent at M4 (odds ratio per symptom = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.03-1.24).
Conclusion: Patients reporting a high number of symptoms soon after HAART initiation are at higher risk of future nonadherence and could be targeted for interventions to achieve good levels of adherence and to improve treatment outcome.