Closing the gaps in the continuum of depression care for persons with HIV: modeling the impact on viral suppression in the United States

Abstract

Objective: Depression is prevalent among persons with HIV (PWH) and is associated with poorer adherence and lack of viral load suppression (VLS). When treated for depression, PWH are more likely to stay in HIV care and adhere to medications; however, for many PWH, depression is not adequately diagnosed or treated. We adapted Progression and Transmission of HIV (PATH 3.0), a U.S. agent-based dynamic stochastic simulation model, by incorporating a continuum of depression care and estimating the impact on VLS of an enhanced depression diagnosis and care scenario (EDC). Methods: We compared EDC – whereby every PWH is assessed for depression, gets treatment if diagnosed, and of those, half achieve remission – to a status quo scenario (SQ) on VLS. Based on published findings, assumptions for SQ were: 34.7% depressed, 45% diagnosed, 55.3% treated and 33% of treated achieving remission. Compared to PWH without depression, we assumed the probability of being non-virally suppressed increased by 1.57 times for PWH with depression (PWH-D), and by 0.95 times for PWH with remitted depression. Results: There was an average increase of 14.6% (11.5–18.5) in the proportion of PWH-D who achieved VLS in EDC compared to SQ. Among all PWH, there was a 4.7% (3.4–6.0) increase in the proportion who achieved VLS in EDC compared to SQ. Conclusions: Fully diagnosing and adequately treating depression would improve health and quality of life for a substantial proportion of PWH-D and result in a nearly 5% increase in expected rates of VLS in the United States, supporting national prevention goals.