{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T01:05:03Z","timestamp":1791162303479,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,3]],"date-time":"2025-01-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1735862400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Adherence to HIV treatment regimens involves the consistent and correct intake of all prescribed medications. The implementation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) program has significantly reduced mortality among adolescents living with HIV. However, adherence to ART is lower among adolescents compared to other sub-populations and even lower in sub-Saharan Africa. The factors influencing ART adherence are context-specific and vary across countries and regions. In the Tanzanian context, there is a paucity of data regarding these factors.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methodology<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This cross-sectional study involved 385 adolescents and young adults living with HIV receiving treatment at Bombo Hospital Referral Hospital\u2019s Care and Treatment Clinic, in Tanga, Tanzania. To assess adherence, a one-month self-recall medication adherence scale was used while a structured questionnaire was used to gather data on determinants of adherence. Data were collected using Google Forms and subsequently exported as a Microsoft Excel file. The data were then entered into Stata software version 15 for cleaning for descriptive and logistic regression analyses.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>More than a third (35.3%) of adolescents and young adults living with HIV in Tanga were not adherent to the effective and available ART. Adolescents and young adults living in households experiencing moderate food insecurity were 67% less likely to adhere to ART (95%CI 0.16\u20130.66) compared to those who were food secure. Those with secondary education were 2.3 times more likely to adhere to ART (95%CI 1.02\u20135.23), compared to those without formal education. While participants who consistently obtain their ART at the clinic were more 4.2 times more likely to adhere to medication (95%CI 1.29\u201313.72), those experiencing ART side effects were 39% less likely to adhere to ART (95%CI 0.38\u20130.98).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>More than one-third of adolescents and young adults were not adherent to ART in Tanga, Tanzania. Addressing such unprecedented challenges calls for efforts targeting adolescents and young adults with limited education, from households with food insecurity, and ensuring counseling and management of ART side effects.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0316188","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,3]],"date-time":"2025-01-03T18:33:41Z","timestamp":1735929221000},"page":"e0316188","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Factors associated with adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV-positive adolescents and young adult patients attending HIV care and treatment clinic at Bombo Hospital in Tanga region-Tanzania"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Sophia","family":"Kamote","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7137-0058","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Novatus Apolinary","family":"Tesha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bruno F.","family":"Sunguya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0316188.ref001","first-page":"1","author":"UNAIDS","year":"2023","journal-title":"World AIDS Day 2023: Global HIV statistics"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0316188.ref002","article-title":"Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy by Medication Possession Ratio and Virological Suppression among Adolescents and Young Adults Living with HIV in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania","volume":"7","author":"M. Amour","year":"2022","journal-title":"Trop Med Infect Dis"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0316188.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2018.21167","article-title":"HIV Viral Load and Transmissibility of HIV Infection: Undetectable Equals Untransmittable","volume":"321","author":"R. W. Eisinger","year":"2019","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0316188.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2018.21167","article-title":"HIV Viral Load and Transmissibility of HIV Infection: Undetectable Equals Untransmittable","volume":"321","author":"R. W. Eisinger","year":"2019","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0316188.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/s12981-022-00475-y","article-title":"Predicting viral load suppression by self-reported adherence, pharmacy refill counts and real time medication monitoring among people living with HIV in Tanzania","volume":"19","author":"K. M. Ngowi","year":"2022","journal-title":"AIDS Res Ther"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0316188.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"331","DOI":"10.1179\/1465328111Y.0000000031","article-title":"Adherence to antiretroviral therapy and its correlates among HIV-infected children at an HIV clinic in New Delhi","volume":"31","author":"M. Bhattacharya","year":"2011","journal-title":"Ann Trop Paediatr"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0316188.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-14-365","article-title":"Adherence to antiretroviral therapy and its associated factors among children at South Wollo Zone Hospitals, Northeast Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study","volume":"14","author":"G. Arage","year":"2014","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0316188.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1177\/23259582221121096","article-title":"Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment and Associated Factors among Seropositive People Received Treatment in Jimma Town Public Health Facilities, Ethiopia","volume":"21","author":"Z. Demas","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Int Assoc Provid AIDS Care"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0316188.ref009","article-title":"Adherence barriers and interventions to improve ART adherence in Sub-Saharan African countries: A systematic review protocol","volume":"17","author":"A. Buh","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0316188.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"754","DOI":"10.1007\/s10461-016-1605-5","article-title":"Association Between Food Insecurity and HIV Viral Suppression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis","volume":"21","author":"W. Aibibula","year":"2017","journal-title":"AIDS Behav"},{"key":"pone.0316188.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2023.1133328","article-title":"The impact of food insecurity on receipt of care, retention in care, and viral suppression among people living with HIV\/AIDS in the United States: a causal mediation analysis","volume":"11","author":"J. Bleasdale","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0316188.ref012","article-title":"Barriers and facilitators for interventions to improve ART adherence in Sub-Saharan African countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"18","author":"A. Buh","year":"2023","journal-title":"November"},{"key":"pone.0316188.ref013","author":"URT","year":"2024","journal-title":"District Health Information System (DHIS 2)."},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0316188.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0187835","article-title":"Criterion validity of 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale in patients with asthma","volume":"12","author":"A. Jane\u017ei\u010d","year":"2017","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0316188.ref015","article-title":"Accuracy of a screening tool for medication adherence: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8","volume":"12","author":"S. J. Moon","year":"2017","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0316188.ref016","first-page":"1","volume-title":"Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey Indicator Survey (TDHS-MIS) 2015\u20132016.","author":"TDHS","year":"2016"},{"key":"pone.0316188.ref017","first-page":"2","article-title":"Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for Measurement of Food Access: Indicator Guide: Version 3.","author":"J Coates","year":"2007"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0316188.ref018","article-title":"Self-reported adherence and pharmacy refill adherence are both predictive for an undetectable viral load among HIV-infected migrants receiving cART","volume":"12","author":"S. K. Been","year":"2017","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0316188.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"856","DOI":"10.1111\/tmi.12709","article-title":"Which adherence measure\u2013self-report, clinician recorded or pharmacy refill\u2013is best able to predict detectable viral load in a public ART programme without routine plasma viral load monitoring?,\u201d","volume":"21","author":"L. A. Mekuria","year":"2016","journal-title":"Tropical Medicine and International Health"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0316188.ref020","article-title":"HIV, Tuberculosis, and Food Insecurity in Africa-A Syndemics-Based Scoping Review","volume":"19","author":"T. Ojo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0316188.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-14-365","article-title":"Adherence to antiretroviral therapy and its associated factors among children at South Wollo Zone Hospitals, Northeast Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study","volume":"14","author":"G. Arage","year":"2014","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0316188","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,3]],"date-time":"2025-01-03T18:33:55Z","timestamp":1735929235000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0316188"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Joel Msafiri","family":"Francis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,3]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,3]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0316188","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,3]]}}}