Abstract Background: For general well-being and longer survival, maintaining over 95% adherence to ART is necessary. It also reduces the chance of resistance development. But side-effects from ART may lead to reduced compliance. We conducted this study with the objective of assessing effect of perceived side-effects of ART on treatment adherencein patients on ART in a tertiary hospital in Kolkata, India. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted on the adults attending ART centre of R. G. Kar Medical College, Kolkata. Patients above 15 years of age, who received at least one year of treatment before the study, comprised the study population. Sample size was 279. We tried to determine any association between adherence level and perceived side-effects applying suitable statistical tests. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS (version 20). Results: Compared to patients with correct knowledge about side-effects of ART, those who have incorrect knowledge had 0.325 times higher chance of having inadequate adherence in last one year (p=0.04). Chi-square test shows significant association between perceived side-effect encountered during the course of treatment and adherence level of patients on ART (p=.001). Conclusion: The subjects, who knew ART may cause side-effects, in case of any adverse health situation as perceived by them as side-effects from ART, may discontinue the medication, leading to reduced adherence level. On the other hand, those who didn’t know ART may cause side-effects, will not attribute any adverse health situation to ART, and will not discontinue the medications, keeping adequate adherence level.
Keywords: Antiretroviral Therapy; Adherence Level; HIV/AIDS; Side-Effects