Failure to initiate antiretroviral therapy, loss to follow-up and mortality among HIV-infected patients during the pre-ART period in Uganda.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Delays and failures in initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among treatment eligible patients may compromise the effectiveness of HIV care in Africa. An accurate understanding, however, of the pace and completeness of ART initiation and mortality during the waiting period is obscured by frequent losses to follow-up.

Methods

We evaluated newly ART-eligible HIV-infected adults from 2007 to 2011 in a prototypical clinic in Mbarara, Uganda. A random sample of patients lost to follow-up was tracked in the community to determine vital status and ART initiation after leaving the original clinic. Outcomes among the tracked patients were incorporated using probability weights, and a competing risks approach was used in analyses.

Results

Among 2633 ART-eligible

SUBMITTER: Geng EH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3654002 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature