The effect of tracer contact on return to care among adult, "lost to follow-up" patients living with HIV in Zambia: an instrumental variable analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Tracing patients lost to follow-up (LTFU) from HIV care is widely practiced, yet we have little knowledge of its causal effect on care engagement. In a prospective, Zambian cohort, we examined the effect of tracing on return to care within 2 years of LTFU.

Methods

We traced a stratified, random sample of LTFU patients who had received HIV care between August 2013 and July 2015. LTFU was defined as a gap of >90 days from last scheduled appointment in the routine electronic medical record. Extracting 2 years of follow-up visit data through 2017, we identified patients who returned. Using random selection for tracing as an instrumental variable (IV), we used conditional two-stage least squares regression to estimate the local average treatment effect of tracer cont

SUBMITTER: Beres LK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8683971 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature