Perceptions of disease and therapy are factors influencing adherence to antiretroviral therapy

Editor,—HIV infection is now considered a chronic condition. Patients will have to learn to live with the disease for their life. Therefore, the management of psychological aspects, besides clinical ones, is becoming increasingly important. In most cases the infection can be controlled by effective but complex treatments. On the other hand, people living with HIV face everyday problems related to the disease, the therapy, and a persisting social stigma which inevitably influences their behaviour. Based on this, the patients' perceptions of disease and therapy may be important in adherence of patients to treatment,1 which is now an important aspect in HIV care.2,3 The study, “Compliance in HIV” has analysed the role of these factors on adherence to therapy. This is a multicentre observational study focused on evaluating the level of adherence to anti-HIV therapies conducted in Italy. Eligible for the …