The prevalence of persons living and diagnosed with HIV infection in the United States in 2010 to 2014 increased in number and rate (Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), 2016). In 2015, persons aged 25-29 years had the highest rate (33.4), followed by persons aged 20-24 years (31.2) (CDC, 2016). Consistent reduced viral load is associated with reduced morbidity and mortality and a lower likelihood of transmitting HIV to sex partners (CDC, 2011). Retention into HIV care promotes life and decreases the risk for HIV transmission (Yehia et. al. 2015). Preventing HIV transmission, prevention intervention strategy is critical and should be ongoing to all HIV patients consistently. New cases of HIV in the United States are increasing by approximately 30, 000 per year and with this increase, more providers are needed (Weiser et al.2016).
Objective: To povide knowledge on the factors that predict retention in care and health outmomes among HIV patients and be able to understand viral load and its relation to retention in care.