Prevalence and contributing factors of virological non-suppression among adult patients on first-line antiretroviral therapy in tertiary hospitals in Ethiopia.

Authors

Gemechu Gelana Ararame, Kayo Abera, Lemi Ushu Sime, Birbirsa Sefera Senbeta

Published in

Scientific reports. Jul 03, 2026. Epub Jul 03, 2026.

Abstract

The high burden of virological non-suppression causes morbidity, mortality, decreased quality of life, and survival of people living with HIV in developing countries. To assess the prevalence and contributing factors of virological non-suppression among adult patients on first-line ART in tertiary hospitals in Ethiopia. A multicenter retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The data collection checklist contains patient socio-demographics, laboratory findings, clinical characteristics, drug-related factors, and treatment outcomes. The collected data were coded, entered, and analyzed by using SPSS version 25. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine contributing factors of virological non-suppression, and reported in adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and p-value. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Among a total of 642 study participants, 51.4% were males and 68.7% were literate. This study's findings revealed that the prevalence of virological non-suppression among people living with HIV was 10.3%. Patient aged above 35 years (AOR = 4.53, 95% CI: 1.17-8.46), low baseline CD4 cell count (AOR = 3.63, 95% CI: 1.26-8.47), tuberculosis co-infection (AOR = 3.85, 95% CI: 1.13-8.23), comorbid diseases (AOR = 2.75, 95% CI: 1.90-6.01), and poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (AOR = 3.23, 95% CI: 1.23-5.65), were contributing factors of virological non-suppression. This study revealed that the prevalence of virological non-suppression among adult HIV/AIDS patients on first-line ART was lower than the national pooled estimate. Patient aged above 35 years, low baseline CD4 cell count, tuberculosis co-infection, comorbid diseases, and poor adherence to ART were contributing factors of virological non-suppression. Implementing effective interventions, such as comprehensive adherence support and prevention of tuberculosis coinfection, can significantly improve the virological suppression.

PMID:
42399709
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 04 Jul 2026.

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