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Background:

Alcohol use is frequently implicated as a factor in nonadherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). There have not been efforts to systematically evaluate findings across studies. This meta-analysis provides a quantitative evaluation of the alcohol-adherence association by aggregating findings across studies and examining potential moderators.

Methods:

Literature searches identified 40 qualifying studies totaling over 25,000 participants. Studies were coded on several methodological variables.

Results:

In the combined analysis, alcohol drinkers were approximately 50%-60% as likely to be classified as adherent [odds ratio (OR)= 0.548, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.490 to 0.612] compared with abstainers (or those who drank relatively less). Effect sizes for problem drinking, defined as meeting the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism criteria for at-risk drinking or criteria for …