ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The burden of COVID-19 is more severe among the elderly and patients affected with chronic medical conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and HIV/AIDS. There is no study regarding the level of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) during the time of COVID-19 in Ethiopia. So, this study aimed to assess the level of HIV positive patient's adherence to ART treatment and associated factors in Nekemte public health facilities, Western Ethiopia. METHODS: This study was conducted in Nekemte public health facilities, Western Ethiopia from August 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020. A facility-based cross-sectional study was employed among HIV positive patients on ART treatment. A single proportion formula was used to calculate a sample size of 384 . A systematic random sampling technique was employed to select the sample population. Face-to-face interview questionnaires were used during data collection. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with dependent factor, and an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was used to estimate the strength of the association between dependent and independent variables. RESULTS: A total of 361 HIV positive patients have participated in the study, yielding a response rate of 94%. The mean age of the participants was 33.8 (SD ±9.8) years. Seventy-seven (21.3%) HIV-positive patients had not adhered to ART follow-up. The study found that living in rural areas (AOR=3.37, 95% CI=1.80-6.24), age less than 25 years (AOR=3.41, 95% CI=1.26-9.21), and substance use (AOR=5.42, 95% CI=1.8-16.29) were independent predictors of poor adherence to ART. CONCLUSION: Generally, non-adherence to antiretroviral treatment among people living with HIV during the pandemic outbreak was high in the study area. A home-based delivery of ART treatment and improving retention mechanism during pandemics is highly recommended for concerned bodies. In addition, counseling on avoidance of substance use should be strengthened to increase retention on treatment.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: About three-fourth of adults with new-onset epilepsy become seizure-free with current anti-epileptic drugs, but around one-fourth of the patients continue to experience seizure which increases the risk of accident, disability, death and treatment side effects. Therefore, this study aimed to address the gap in determining the magnitude of the number of seizure attacks and identify the factors that provoke a repeated seizure in a patient with epilepsy. RESULTS: A total of 166(40.68%) study participants were experienced seizure attacks with a minimum of one and a maximum of seventeen times attacks. Perceived exposure to noise (adjusted incidence risk ratio (AIRR) = 1.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.46, 2.49]), light (AIRR = 1.48, 95% CI [1.09, 2.00]), head injury (AIRR = 1.71, 95% CI [1.14, 2.57]) and sleep deprivations (AIRR = 1.41, 95% CI [1.02, 1.94]) were associated with increased incidence of seizure, while adherence adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 18.18, 95% CI [3.49, 94.63]), being in middle wealth index (AOR = 3.52, 95% CI [1.14, 11.02]) and being in rich wealth index (AOR = 4.05, 95% CI [1.54, 10.69]) were associated with inflation of zero count.
