Adjusting mortality for loss to follow-up: analysis of five ART programmes in sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Evaluation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes in sub-Saharan Africa is difficult because many patients are lost to follow-up. Outcomes in these patients are generally unknown but studies tracing patients have shown mortality to be high. We adjusted programme-level mortality in the first year of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for excess mortality in patients lost to follow-up.

Methods and findings

Treatment-naïve patients starting combination ART in five programmes in Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa were eligible. Patients whose last visit was at least nine months before the closure of the database were considered lost to follow-up. We filled missing survival times in these patients by multiple imputation, using estimates of mortality from s

SUBMITTER: Brinkhof MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2994756 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature