Comparing effectiveness of first-line antiretroviral therapy between peri-urban and rural clinics in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Viral suppression (VS) is the hallmark of successful antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes. We sought to compare clinic retention, virological outcomes, drug resistance and mortality between peri-urban and rural settings in South Africa after first-line ART.

Methods

Beginning in July 2014, 1000 (500 peri-urban and 500 rural) ART-naïve patients with HIV were enrolled and managed according to local standard of care. Clinic retention, virological suppression, virological failure (VF), genotypic drug resistance and mortality were assessed. The definition of VS was a viral load ≤1000 copies/ml. Time to event analyses were stratified by site, median age and gender. Kaplan-Meier curves were calculated and graphed with log-rank modelling to compare curves.

Results

SUBMITTER: Brijkumar J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9353676 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature