"Cure" Versus "Clinical Remission": The Impact of a Medication Description on the Willingness of People Living with HIV to Take a Medication

• Authors: Ilona Fridman, Duke University; Peter A Ubel, Duke University; Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, Baylor College of Medicine; Cameron England, Emory University; Judith S Currier, UCLA; Nir Eyal, Harvard Medical School; Kenneth A Freedberg, Massachusetts General Hospital; Scott D Halpern, University of Pennsylvania; Colleen Kelley, Emory University; Daniel R Kuritzkes, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Catherine N Le, UCLA; Jeffrey Lennox, Emory University; Kathryn Pollak, Duke Cancer Institutev; Brian J Zikmund-Fisher, University of Michigan; Karen A Scherr, Duke University
• Journal Title: AIDS AND BEHAVIOR
• Volume: Volume 24, Number 7
• Publisher: SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS | 2020-07-01, Pages 2054-2061
• Type of Work: Article | Post-print: After Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-019-02769-1
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, Oncology
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Social Sciences; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Social Sciences, Biomedical; Biomedical Social Sciences; Cure; Decision-making; Behavior; Remission; HIV; PLWHIV; QUALITY-OF-LIFE; ANTIRETROVIRAL TREATMENT; TRIALS; EXPECTANCY; THERAPY; ETHICS; ADULTS

Abstract

Many people living with HIV (PLWHIV) state that they would be willing to take significant risks to be “cured” of the virus. However, how they interpret the word “cure” in this context is not clear. We used a randomized survey to examine whether PLWHIV had a different willingness to take a hypothetical HIV medication if it causes flu-like symptoms, but provides: (a) cure, (b) remission that was labeled “cure”, or (c) remission. PLWHIV (n = 454) were more willing to take a medication that provided a “cure” versus a “remission” if the side effects lasted less than 1 year. PLWHIV were more willing to take a medication that provided a remission that was labeled “cure” versus a “remission” (p = 0.01) if the side effects lasted 2 weeks. Clinicians and researchers should be aware of the impact of the word “cure” and ensure that PLWHIV fully understand the possible outcomes of their treatment options.