Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy When Presenting with Higher CD4 Cell Counts Results in Reduced Loss to Follow-up in a Resource-Limited Setting

Citation

Clouse, Kate; Pettifor, Audrey E.; Maskew, Mhairi; Bassett, Jean F.; Van Rie, Annelies T.; Gay, Cynthia L.; Behets, Frieda M.-T. F.; Sanne, Ian; & Fox, Matthew P. (2013). Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy When Presenting with Higher CD4 Cell Counts Results in Reduced Loss to Follow-up in a Resource-Limited Setting. AIDS, 27(4), 645-650. PMCID: PMC3646627

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: In August 2011, South Africa expanded its adult antiretroviral treatment (ART) guidelines to allow treatment initiation at CD4 values DESIGN: An observational cohort study.
METHODS: We analyzed routine data of 1430 adult patients initiating ART from April-December 2010 from a Johannesburg primary healthcare clinic offering ART initiation at CD4 /=3 months late for the last scheduled visit), death and incident tuberculosiswithin one year of ART initiation for those initiating at CD4 values RESULTS: Half (52.0%) of patients presented in the lower CD4 group (CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the first studies from a routine clinical setting to demonstrate South Africa's 2011 expansion of ART treatment guidelines can be enacted without increasing program attrition.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/QAD.0b013e32835c12f9

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2013

Journal Title

AIDS

Author(s)

Clouse, Kate
Pettifor, Audrey E.
Maskew, Mhairi
Bassett, Jean F.
Van Rie, Annelies T.
Gay, Cynthia L.
Behets, Frieda M.-T. F.
Sanne, Ian
Fox, Matthew P.

PMCID

PMC3646627

ORCiD

Pettifor - 0000-0002-3387-0817