The Impact of Alcohol Use on Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence in Koreans Living with HIV

This study aimed to examine the impact of alcohol use on the antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence of Koreans living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A total of 144 HIV-infected Koreans older than the age of 19 years who had been receiving antiretroviral drugs for at least 3 months were surveyed. Alcohol use was identified as nonhazardous, binge, hazardous, and alcohol dependent as determined by the Alchol Use Disorder Identification Test-Korea (AUDIT-K). ART adherence was defined according to the components of adherence motivation, adherence knowledge, and 95% medication adherence using the modified Morisky scale. Collected data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis for each component of therapy adherence. Of all participants, 13.9% were binge drinkers, 17.4% were hazardous drinkers, and 4.2% were alcohol dependent. For low adherence motivation, the odds ratio for the hazardous drinkers was 7.47 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.72-32.41; p = .007] and for the alcohol dependent, it was 12.61 (95% CI: 1.38-115.38; p = .025) when compared with the nonhazardous drinkers. For medication adherence under 95%, the odds ratio for binge drinkers was 4.65 (95% CI: 1.15-18.92; p = .032), for hazardous drinkers was 8.05 (95% CI: 2.08-31.20; p = .003), and for the alcohol dependent was 27.67 (95% CI: 2.12-360.51; p = .011). It is recommended that Korean institutions and governments develop specific mediation and counseling programs that include alcohol use-related monitoring for the improvement of the ART adherence of people living with HIV.