Agreement Between Self-Reported Knowledge and Medical Record Data

People living with HIV (PLWH) see their providers quarterly to go over their laboratory results and discuss problems with antiretroviral treatment (ART) regimens. Our purpose was to determine whether socially and economically marginalized PLWH were accurate in self-reporting their most recent CD4 count, viral load, and ART regimen, and whether demographic differences influenced self-reporting. We conducted a secondary data analysis based on results from (N = 200) PLWH. We found moderate agreement for CD4 count (k = .58), and viral load (k = .43), but only 43% were able to recall their ART regimens accurately. PLWH ≥ age 50 (k = .77) and those with health insurance coverage (k = .61) were more accurate to self-report CD4. Women were more accurate in reporting viral load than men (k = .53, p = .003 vs. k = .38). These findings suggest that PLWH need multiple modalities of education to relate CD4 counts, viral load, and ART regimens to their personal health understanding.