Long-Term Effects of Incentives for HIV Viral Suppression: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Links to Files
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Novak, Matthew D., August F. Holtyn, Forrest Toegel, Andrew M. Rodewald, Jeannie-Marie Leoutsakos, Michael Fingerhood, and Kenneth Silverman. “Long-Term Effects of Incentives for HIV Viral Suppression: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” AIDS and Behavior 28, no. 2 (February 1, 2024): 625–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04249-z.
Rights
Access to this item will begin on 12-20-2024.
Abstract
Achieving viral suppression in people living with HIV improves their quality of life and can help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, few interventions have successfully promoted HIV viral suppression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of financial incentives for viral suppression in people living with HIV. People living with a detectable HIV viral load (≥200 copies/mL) were randomly assigned to Usual Care (n=50) or Incentive (n=52) groups. Incentive participants earned up to $10 per day for providing blood samples with an undetectable or reduced viral load. During the 2-year intervention period, the percentage of blood samples with a suppressed viral load was significantly higher among Incentive participants (70%) than Usual Care participants (43%) (OR=7.1, 95% CI 2.7 to 18.8, p<.001). This effect did not maintain after incentives were discontinued. These findings suggest that frequent delivery of large-magnitude financial incentives for viral suppression can produce large and long-lasting improvements in viral load in people living with HIV. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02363387.