Incidence and consistency of antiretroviral use among HIV-infected medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia

Objective: To investigate the incidence and consistency of antiretroviral ( ARV) treatment in the period before the introduction of protease inhibitors among Medicaid beneficiaries in New Jersey who had both the human immunode ficiency virus (HIV) and schizophrenia. Method: HIV-infected Medicaid beneficiaries were identified using the HIV a nd acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) registries for New Jersey; cla ims histories were used to identify patients diagnosed with ICD-9-CM schizo phrenia and affective psychoses and to examine use of ARV drugs. Results: Bivariate and multivariate analysis Found no difference in the lik elihood of receiving ARV drugs between patients with HIV and schizophrenia and HIV-infected patients without schizophrenia. However, once the therapy was initiated, patients with schizophrenia were more consistent users of AR V drugs. Conclusion: Results do not indicate that HIV-seropositive (HIV+) patients w ith schizophrenia are less adherent to HIV therapies than HIV+ patients wit hout schizophrenia. In our study population, consistency of use was actuall y higher among HIV+ patients with schizophrenia, perhaps because their mult iple diagnoses place them under closer medical scrutiny.