[Adherence, satisfaction and health-related quality of life in HIV-infected patients with antiretroviral therapy in Spain. The ARPAS study]

OBJECTIVE

To determine the relationship between satisfaction with antiretroviral therapy (ART), adherence and quality of life (QoL) in adult patients diagnosed with HIV infection and ART according to the posologic load.

METHOD

Multicenter, observational and cross-sectional study. Socio-demographic, clinical and of posologic load (1, 2-4 or > 4 tablets/day), adherence (SMAQ, dispensation recordings (DR) and visual analogical scale), satisfaction (ESART questionnaire) and QoL (MOS-HIV) variables were gathered. An adherent patient was defined as the one presenting simultaneously adherence according to SMAQ and DR > 95%.

RESULTS

328 patients (76% men; 46.0 ± 9.2 years) were evaluated. The posology of 1 tablet/day, 2-4 tablets/day and > 4 tablets/day occurred in 29%, 37% and 34% of the patients, respectively. Although the evaluation performed through the SMAQ questionnaire and the VAS scale independently showed statistically significant differences in favor of the 1 tablet/day scheme, the percentage (49%) of adherent patients according to the combined variable did not differ between the groups based on the posologic load. The satisfaction with ART and QoL were high in the three groups, being the 1 tablet/day scheme the one related with higher satisfaction and lower rate of adverse effects on fat metabolism. There were no differences in patients' satisfaction by the adherence level.

CONCLUSIONS

Adherence, satisfaction with ART and QoL of the patients with ART are high. Although higher in patients taking 1 tablet/day, the satisfaction did not differ according to the level of adherence and no correlation was observed between satisfaction with ART and quality of life.

[Preferences, satisfaction and compliance with antiretroviral treatment: ARPAS study (II)]

OBJECTIVE

To describe the ARPAS study and analyse the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and patient preferences with regards the antiretroviral treatment (ART), as well as the relationship between compliance and satisfaction with the ART and quality of life.

METHOD

The ARPAS study has looked at adult patients diagnosed with HIV and on ART, using a protocol including sociodemographic, clinical, therapeutic and quality of life variables. Compliance was estimated using the SMAQ questionnaire; satisfaction was measured using the ESTAR questionnaire, as was quality of life with the MOS-HIV Health Survey, and treatment preferences were determined using a questionnaire prepared based on the consensus of an expert team in the field of therapeutic monitoring of these patients. A stratified univariate analysis according to compliance and a logistic regression analysis were carried out to study the association of the independent variables with compliance.

RESULTS

A total of 234 patients were evaluated (73.7% male; 43.2+/-7.8 years of age). The average time since diagnosis and from the initiation of ART was 10.1+/-5.7 and 7.4+/-4.4 years respectively. The therapeutic regime of twice-daily doses (bid) was applied to 71% of the patients, and once daily (qd) in 21%. A total of 43% of the patients fulfilled compliance criteria according to the SMAQ. The percentage of the patients with qd complying with the ART was greater than the remaining dosing schedules (55.3 vs. 45.1%), although not significantly (p=0.251). No differences were observed in the sociodemographic and clinical variables in terms of compliance. An elective preference was observed for the simplest of the therapeutic regimes which contrasts with the evaluation of the ART characteristics, where power is given preference over durability, tolerance and lastly, the convenience of taking the ART. The univariate analysis showed the highest score on the satisfaction scales (50.4+/-7.8 vs. 46.5+/-9.7, p=0.001) and quality of life (81.6+/-10.7 vs. 75.7+/-11.8, p<0.001) in compliant patients with respect to non-compliers. The multivariate models confirm the existence of a significant association between compliance and satisfaction, and between compliance and quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients consider treatment with a powerful, long-lasting and well-tolerated ART a priority and among their preferences for different treatment regimes, once-daily dosing regimes are highlighted. The ARPAS study showed a direct relationship between compliance and satisfaction with ART, and between compliance and quality of life, in a manner that the strategies improving compliance must necessarily include aspects that allow them to improve patient satisfaction with treatment and quality of life.

[Psychometric characteristics of the antiretroviral treatment satisfaction scale (ESTAR): ARPAS study (I)]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the psychometric characteristics, convergent validity and reliability of the antiretroviral treatment satisfaction scale (ESTAR, escala de satisfacción con el tratamiento antirretroviral).

METHOD

Patient satisfaction with ART was determined using the ESTAR questionnaire, developed in Spanish based on the English language version of the HIV-Treatment-Satisfaction Questionnaire (HIVTSQ). In order to evaluate this, internal consistency and test-retest reliability were measured. The construct analysis was performed by studying the covariance and correlation of the questions, and the convergent validity was assessed by using the MOS-HIV (Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey) questionnaire as the standard, as was the content validity by the correlation between the ESTAR and the clinical and therapeutic variables.

RESULTS

The ESTAR is structured in two dimensions (clinical satisfaction and satisfaction with lifestyle) with slight modifications to the original version; question 4, discarded in the original version, has been reworded in the Spanish version, and question 9 was deleted because of low communality. As regards the test-retest reliability, all the questions show significant intraclass correlation coefficients (p<0.001). The internal consistency shows higher values than the original version in the lifestyle dimension (a=0.81 vs. a=0.74) and in the total score (a=0.84 vs. a=0.82). With regard to convergent validity, the ESTAR presents significant correlations with the MOS-HIV as a whole and with different dimensions of it, especially the association with mental health, health distress and cognitive functioning dimensions.

CONCLUSIONS

The ESTAR turns out to be a suitable, reliable instrument for evaluating satisfaction with ART by HIV+ patients.

[The pharmacokinetics of metronidazole and gentamicin in a single preoperative dose as antibiotic prophylaxis in colorectal surgery]

OBJECTIVE

To describe, in patients undergoing colorectal surgery (CRS), the pharmacokinetics of a single, prophylactic preoperative dose of 1,500 mg of metronidazole plus 240 mg gentamicin and measure its efficacy in accordance with the accepted pharmacodynamic and microbiological parameters.

METHOD

Thirty-six patients undergoing CRS agreed to participate in the study. Three blood samples were taken from each. Cmax 15 minutes after finishing the infusion of the mixture, CfinIQ on finishing the surgery, and Cmin between 12 and 24 hours post-administration. The concentrations of metronidazole and gentamicin in each simple were measured and the pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated (dV- distribution volume , Cl-plasma clearance). For the metronidazole, concentrations in excess of 8 microg/ml were considered effective, and for gentamicin, C(max) in excess of 9 microg/ml and inhibition quotients above 8.

RESULTS

All the concentrations of metronidazole, both CmaxMTZ and CfinIQMTZ were above 8 microg/ml and all the CmaxGEN in excess of 9 microg/ml. The CIGEN was 13.8+/-3.8, with no individual value below 8. For the metronidazole, a dV of 0.68+/-0.2 l/kg was estimated and a Cl of 3.15+/-1.20 l/h and for the gentamicin, the dV as 0.23+/-0.06 l/kg and the Cl was 4.71+/-1.95 l/h.

CONCLUSION

In patients undergoing CRS, surgical intervention did not significantly modify the pharmacokinetics of metronidazole or gentamicin in comparison with other groups of patients. The prophylaxis using a single, pre-surgical dose enables the achievement, for both antimicrobial agents, concentrations of a sufficient size to guarantee clinical efficacy.

[HIV-infected patients' perceived satisfaction with an outpatient pharmaceutical care unit (OPCU)]

INTRODUCTION

Satisfaction measurements attempt to establish patient views regarding health care. In the setting of pharmaceutical care, the measurements of the generically called "h umanistic"variables is scarce, and the number of validated instruments is inadequate. The goal of this study is to present a specifically-developed satisfaction survey regarding outpatient pharmaceutical care units, and to prove its applicability and inner consistency in a HIV-infected patient population on antiretroviral therapy.

METHODS

The survey includes 19 questions within four groups - A. The unit's physical space, location, and organization; B. Dispensation; C. Pharmaceutical consultation, and D. Overall satisfaction with the unit. Each question is scored from 1 to 5. The study was carried out by administering 250 surveys to consecutive patients arriving at the OPCU, Castell6n General Hospital.

RESULTS

Responses show a high degree of patient satisfaction with questions posed, with mean values oscillating between 3.0 and 4.8. The highest means corresponded to pharmacist valuation, and the lowest values corresponded to questions within the organizational module. All questions considered, the mean score obtained was 3.96 + 0.95 (median of 4). The survey exhibited high internal reproducibility both for each group and all questions.

CONCLUSION

The satisfaction survey discussed here is an accessible, easy-to-use instrument that may be rapidly completed and used in pharmaceutical care units with outpatients as a measurement of patient satisfaction. The high scores HIV-infected patients assign to questions included in the survey suggest a benefit from standardized pharmaceutical care.

[Pharmaceutical care program in HIV patients under antiretroviral treatment: methodology and documentation]

Most hospital pharmacy services in Spain have increased pharmaceutical care activities for HIV-patients under antiretroviral therapy during last years. So, it is necessary the establishment of work methods to secure the best quality of care. The pharmacy service of the general hospital of Castellón has developed a global pharmaceutical care program for these patients characterized by the systematic and individualized strategy or basic pharmaceutical care record which can be completed with additional proceedings. The basic record includes complete drug therapy registry, clinical evolution data and detection of drug related problems (DRP), evaluation and promotion of patient adherence, individualized counselling and nutritional evaluation. Additional proceedings include exhaustive DRP monitoring, additional patient adherence to treatments measurements, SOAP methodology, quality of life and perceived patient satisfaction. Our purpose integrate patient status with pharmaceutical care provided and the expected or obtained outcomes, either clinical or economic as well as activity outcomes, quality of life and satisfaction related results. The main characteristics of the purposed methodology are: clinical orientation, it permits the registry and the establishment of a systematic work methodology, is designed as a cross structure and variables are coded. According to our experience, our model can be considered useful in clinical practice and could be applied in different hospital outpatient units.