Freshman medical student Stephanie Saravolatz earned accolades for her study revealing that the use of antidepressants was associated with improved HIV compliance and immunologic reconstitution.

She won acceptance last October from the Michigan chapter of the American College of Physicians to attend the organization's national conference April 21 in New Orleans for "Use of Antidepressants is Associated with Improved HIV Treatment Compliance."

The poster shows the results of a retrospective chart review she completed on HIV patients at the Infectious Disease Clinic at the St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit.

Saravolatz competed among more than 40 medical students from throughout the state of Michigan and won first place. The award entitled her to acceptance at the ACP national meeting.

"I am so excited for the opportunity to travel to the national meeting. I hope to learn more about what innovative research other medical students are doing across the United States and engage in discussion with these students about the potential application of their research. This will prepare me to become the best physician I can be so that my future patients can have the highest quality of care," she said.

For the project, she looked for a relationship between the use of antidepressants and patient adherence to antiretroviral therapy, or ART.

"Previous research has looked at the effect of HIV diagnosis on mental well-being, but the effect of emotional and psychosocial factors on treatment adherence is less well-known. Our results showed that patients on any prescribed psychoactive medication were less likely to exhibit non-compliance," she added. "Patients on antidepressants had higher CD4 counts, indicating increased adherence and access to care. This signifies the important role a physician must play in talking to their patients about their disease and mental well-being, keeping them better informed, decreasing their stress level and making them feel that ART compliance is more manageable."