Association Between Living With Children and Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in the Women's Interagency HIV Study

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this work was to evaluate whether living with children adversely affects adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected women. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study between October 1998 and September 2005. The study outcome was > or = 95% adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy evaluated at 5832 semiannual visits among 1366 HIV-infected women in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. The primary exposure defined at the visit immediately before outcome ascertainment was the number of children or = 2 children in the household who also reported > or = 95% adherence ranged from 68% to 75% compared with adherence when either 1 child or no children were reported. Each additional child reported living in the household was associated with a 6% decrease in the odds of > or = 95% adherence. CONCLUSION: The impact of living with a child on the ability to take medications by HIV-infected women has not been examined thoroughly. Our data suggest that adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy is inversely associated with the number of children living in the household.