A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan has found that African Americans are far less likely to adhere to drug therapy for HIV than other Americans.
The study of patients receiving antiretroviral drug therapy found that only 30 percent of African American patients maintained the optimal adherence to their prescribed schedule. For patients as a whole, the optimal adherence rate was 40 percent.
The study also found that half of all HIV patients in the study showed signs of depression. And Black patients were 10 percent more likely to have depressive symptoms than study participants as a whole.
The study appears on the website of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.