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Negative Effect Of Depression On Adherence To HIV Treatment Dissipates With SSRIs

July 23rd, 2008 at 9:32 am · Allan Showalter, MD · Clinical Info · No Comments

Source: Effects of Depression and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor use on Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy and on Clinical Outcomes in HIV-infected Patients Michael Alan Horberg, MD, MAS, FACP; Michael Jonah Silverberg, PhD, MPH; et al. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2008;47(3):384-390.



The Study

This large (3359 patients) retrospective cohort study was designed to “determine the impact of depression on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) adherence and clinical measures and investigate if selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) improve these measures.”

Design & Results: (Excerpted)

[Researchers] measured the effects of depression (with and without SSRI use) on adherence and changes in viral and immunologic control among HIV-infected patients starting a new HAART regimen. HAART adherence, HIV RNA levels, and changes in CD4 T-cell counts through 12 months were measured. … [O]f 3359 patients … 42% had a depression diagnosis, and 15% used SSRIs during HAART. Depression without SSRI use was associated with significantly decreased odds of achieving =90% adherence to HAART (odds ratio [OR] = 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.70 to 0.98; P = 0.03). Depression was associated with significantly lower odds of an HIV RNA level <500 copies/mL (OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.62 to 0.95; P = 0.02). Depressed patients compliant with SSRI medication (greater than 80% adherence to SSRI) had HAART adherence and viral control statistically similar to nondepressed HIV-infected patients taking HAART. Comparing depressed with nondepressed HIV-infected patients, CD4 T-cell responses were statistically similar; among depressed patients, those compliant with SSRI had statistically greater increases in CD4 cell responses.


Commentary

Conclusions:
Depression significantly worsens HAART adherence and HIV viral control. Compliant SSRI use is associated with improved HIV adherence and laboratory parameters.

The conclusions1 drawn by the authors are straightforward, immediately useful to clinicians, and heartening, an all too unusual set of qualities for a clinical study dealing with patient compliance.

Moreover, while the researchers are appropriately careful to limit these conclusions to those being treated for HIV, a disorder frequently accompanied by depression (a prevalence of greater than 30% in some studies in HIV-infected patients), it is certainly possible that depression and SSRI treatment have analogous effects on adherence to the treatments of other disorders. There is little evidence that depression associated with HIV is a different pathology than free-standing depression or depression associated with other diseases or that patterns of compliance and noncompliance with HAART are fundamentally different from adherence and nonadherence to other disorders.

Because adherence is a life or death matter for HIV patients and because the HAART regimen has been an especially rigorous and difficult protocol for patients to follow, clinicians and researchers working with this disorder have been long been concerned about compliance issues and their efforts have resulted in advances in clinical practice. My subjective impression is that the results of these labors have sometimes remained isolated to those working in this field. If so, perhaps it’s time for an organized effort to assure that patient compliance research is distributed across diagnostic and professional boundaries.



Footnotes


  1. In more expanded form, the conclusions read … depression negatively affects adherence and clinical parameters among HIV-infected patients taking HAART, including the odds of achieving at least 90% adherence over 12 months and achieving an HIV RNA level <500 copies/mL by 12 months. We found that improved SSRI adherence is associated with improved HAART adherence, leading to improved HIV RNA levels and CD4 T-cell counts approaching or even exceeding results seen with nondepressed HIV-infected patients. SSRI use is likely beneficial in depressed HIV-infected patients if they can be compliant with their SSRI medication. [back]

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