Changes in Food Insecurity, Nutritional Status, and Physical Health Status After Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation in Rural Uganda

Abstract
To investigate whether time on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is associated with improvements in food security and nutritional status, and the extent to which associations are mediated by improved physical health status. The Uganda AIDS Rural Treatment Outcomes study, a prospective cohort of HIV-infected adults newly initiating ART in Mbarara, Uganda. Participants initiating ART underwent quarterly structured interview and blood draws. The primary explanatory variable was time on ART, constructed as a set of binary variables for each 3-month period. Outcomes were food insecurity, nutritional status, and PHS. We fit multiple regression models with cluster-correlated robust estimates of variance to account for within-person dependence of observations over time, and analyses were adjusted for clinical and sociodemographic characteristics.
Description
Keywords
Food insecurity, Antiretroviral treatment, HIV, Uganda, Nutrition, Physical health status
Citation
Weiser, S. D., Gupta, R., Tsai, A. C., Frongillo, E. A., Grede, N., Kumbakumba, E., ... & Bangsberg, D. R. (2012). Changes in food insecurity, nutritional status, and physical health status after antiretroviral therapy initiation in rural Uganda. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 61(2), 179.