Adherence to antiretroviral therapy and anxiety, depression, and stress in subjects within a methadone maintenance progr

This work analyzes the relationship between the adherence to antiretroviral treatments and variables such as anxiety, depression and stress in a sample of 100 HIV+ subjects included in a methadone maintenance program, and its evolution one year later on 83 of these subjects. It can be shown that the subjects who adhere to the treatment throughout the year show lesser degrees of anxiety, stress and depression than those who do not follow the treatment. Those who give up the treatment increase their scores on anxiety and those who initiate the treatment show a reduction on the stress scale. Results remark the relevant role of these variables in the maintenance of the adhesion, once established, but it is more difficult to explain their role in the establishment or loss of adherence itself.