Incidence and Consistency of Antiretroviral Use Among HIV-Infected Medicaid Beneficiaries With Schizophrenia

Objective: To investigate the incidence andconsistency of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in the periodbefore the introduction of protease inhibitors among Medicaidbeneficiaries in New Jersey who had both the humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV) and schizophrenia.

Method: HIV-infected Medicaid beneficiaries wereidentified using the HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS) registries for New Jersey; claims histories were used toidentify patients diagnosed with ICD-9-CM schizophrenia andaffective psychoses and to examine use of ARV drugs.

Results: Bivariate and multivariate analysisfound no difference in the likelihood of receiving ARV drugsbetween patients with HIV and schizophrenia and HIV-infectedpatients without schizophrenia. However, once the therapy wasinitiated, patients with schizophrenia were more consistent usersof ARV drugs.

Conclusion: Results do not indicate thatHIV-seropositive (HIV+) patients with schizophrenia are lessadherent to HIV therapies than HIV+ patients withoutschizophrenia. In our study population, consistency of use wasactually higher among HIV+ patients with schizophrenia, perhapsbecause their multiple diagnoses place them under closer medicalscrutiny.