Introduction: Behavioral risk factors, in addition to increasing the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) transmission, can affect antiretroviral the rapy (ART) compliance of people with the condition. The aim of this study was to determine the pre valence of behavioral risk factors and its' effect on adherence to antiretroviral drugs (ARV) treatment in patients with HIV/AIDS in Western Iran.
Material and methods:This study was performed among all patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Ker manshah Province for 25 years, from 1995 till 2019. Adherence to treatment in these patients was divided into three categories according to the World Health Organization definition, i.e., nonadherence, cessation, and adherence to treatment. Using singlevariable and multivariable logistic regression, the effect of im portant variables in four models was modified, and the effect of each of behavioral risk factors was analyzed in patients with nonadherence or experienced cessation compared to those who adhered to ARV.Results: Of the 2,867 patients with HIV/AIDS, 2,449 (85.42%) were males. The mean age of HIV infec tion was 33.36 ± 11.8 years. In 1995, less than 10 percent of people received treatment, and in 2019, it was more than 67 percent. All behavioral risk factors increased nonadherence to medication and cessation of ARV. In general, after controlling confounding variables, except for needle sharing, all behavioral vari ables affected ARV treatment. The greatest impact on nonadherence to medication was history of drug abuse, history of imprisonment, history of injection drug use, and sex with nonspouse, with a chance of 10.87 (range, 7.2116.39), 3.94 (range, 2.845.46), 3.86 (range, 2.476.03), and 3.38 (range, 2.195.23) times more than patients without these risk factors, respectively.
Conclusions:Although the process of receiving treatment has been increasing since 2005, the non adherence to medication is still high in highrisk groups; therefore it is important to focus more on reducing nonadherence and eventual cessation of treatment. In particular, more attention is necessary for health education and raising the level of awareness of these groups.