Treatment adherence: An historical review and state of question in HIV Infection/AIDS

Abstract

HIV infection/AIDS has become at the last two decades one of the priorities for the health systems in all the world because its prevalence (near of 40 millions of persons affected) and the seriousness of disease. At last years important advances in the field of pharmacological treatment of HIV infection patients have been produced, with the development of new and more potent antiretrovirals. Nevertheless, researchers and clinicians report a high rate of problems related with adherence that invalidate benefits derived from medical advances. At this paper we present a theoretical review of antecedents of psychological research about adherence to treatments. Also, we analyze specifics problems found in AIDS patients and review studies about effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral programs of intervention to increase adherence to antiretrovirals in HIV infection patients.