High Unreported Mortality in Children and Youth (<25 Years) Living With HIV Who Were Lost to Care From Antiretroviral Therapy Programs in Southern Africa: Results From a Multicountry Tracing Study. (15th December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nyakato, Patience; Christ, Benedikt; Anderegg, Nanina; Muhairwe, Josephine; Jefferys, Laura; van Dijk, Janneke; Vinikoor, Michael J.; van Lettow, Monique; Chimbetete, Cleophas; Phiri, Sam J.; Egger, Matthias; Ballif, Marie; Yiannoutsos, Constantin T.; Schomaker, Michael; Kassanjee, Reshma; Davies, Mary-Ann; Cornell, Morna
• Is Part Of: Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes. Volume 91:Number 5(2022)
• Page Start: 429
• Page End: 433
• Publication Date: 2022-12-15
• Subjects: HIV -- mortality -- loss to follow-up -- misclassification -- tracing; AIDS (Disease) -- Periodicals; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome -- Periodicals; AIDS (Disease); Periodicals; 616.9792005
• DOI: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000003090
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1525-4135

Abstract

Abstract : Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Abstract : Background: Antiretroviral therapy program mortality maybe underestimated if deceased patients are misclassified as lost. Methods: We used two-stage inverse probability weighting to account for probability of being: sampled for tracing and found by the tracer. Results: Among 680 children and youth aged <25 years on antiretroviral therapy who were lost and traced in Southern Africa between October 2017 and November 2019, estimated mortality was high at 9.1% (62/680). After adjusting for measured covariates and within-site clustering, mortality remained lower for young adults aged 20–24 years compared with infants aged <2 years [adjusted hazard ratio: 0.40 (95% confidence interval: 0.31 to 0.51)]. Conclusions: Our study confirms high unreported mortality in children and youth who are lost and the need for tracing to assess vital status among those who are lost to accurately report on program mortality.