Impact of antiretroviral therapy on vocational rehabilitation

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Impact of antiretroviral therapy on vocational rehabilitation

K. AJITHKUMAR1, THOMAS IYPE2, K. J. ARUN3, B. K. AJITHA4, K. PRAVEENLAL5, & T.

P. ANTONY6

1Department of Dermatology, Medical College, Alappuzha, Kerala, 2Department of

Neurology, Medical College,Alappuzha, 3Medical College, Trichur, 4Medical

College Alleppey, 5Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Medicine, Trichur, India

and 6Medical college Hospital Trichur

AIDS Care, November 2007; 19(10): 13101312

Abstract

This study evaluates the impact of a free antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme

on the employment status of people living

with HIV/AIDS. Patients on ART were interviewed regarding the employment status

before and after ten months of enrolment into therapy. We included patients who

were started on the free ART program of Kerala state at the Medical College,

Thrissur. We documented the demographic details, indication for starting ART,

disease status, WHO staging and CD4 count (whenever available) and the job

status at the time of enrolment into the study. We collected data about the

patient’s job status at the end of ten months of ART.

We excluded patients below 20 years of age, those who died during the

study period and those lost for follow-up before the end of ten months from the

analysis. We looked at factors associated

with having employment at the end of ten months of ARTusing logistic regression.

At the end of ten months of therapy the employment status improved significantly

(pB0.01) to 74% (77 patients). We found that 96.4% of those previously employed

are at present employed, while 65.8% of those previously unemployed are employed

at present.

A history of previous employment (p_0.014) was associated with acquisition of

employment; sex, duration on ART, stage of disease or age does not significantly

influence the present employment status.

This study suggests that the provision of free ART by the state can

significantly improve the employment status of PLWHA.

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A a review copy of the article please contact Dr Ajith <ajisudha@...>