SynthesisPloS one2013
Effects of physical tracing on estimates of loss to follow-up, mortality and retention in low and middle income country antiretroviral therapy programs: a systematic review.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Outcomes of HIV-positive patients lost to follow-up in African treatment programmes.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2017Pooled it
- Pooled it
- 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.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2021Trial
- Long-term survival of participants in the CENTAUR trial of sodium phenylbutyrate-taurursodiol in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.Muscle & nerve · 2021Trial
- HIV diagnosis and treatment status in individuals dying from HIV in Zimbabwe, Malawi, and South Africa: A model comparison analysis.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Improving estimators of HIV mortality and retention in care by linking clinical cohort data with national registries in Mexico.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Identifying gaps in the HIV treatment cascade in Africa: a model comparison study.The Lancet. Global health · 2025Article
- Mortality Rate in a Cohort of People Living With HIV in Rural Tanzania After Accounting for Unseen Deaths Among Those Lost to Follow-up.American journal of epidemiology · 2021Article
- Challenges with tracing patients on antiretroviral therapy who are late for clinic appointments in rural South Africa and recommendations for future practice.Global health action · 2020Article
- Outcomes After Being Lost to Follow-up Differ for Pregnant and Postpartum Women When Compared With the General HIV Treatment Population in Rural South Africa.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2020Article
- Predictors of lost to follow-up in a "test and treat" programme among adult women with high-risk sexual behavior in Kampala, Uganda.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Brief Report: Improving Early Infant Diagnosis Observations: Estimates of Timely HIV Testing and Mortality Among HIV-Exposed Infants.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2020Article
- Feasibility and acceptability of an iris biometric system for unique patient identification in routine HIV services in Kenya.International journal of medical informatics · 2020Article
- Misreporting of Patient Outcomes in the South African National HIV Treatment Database: Consequences for Programme Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation.Frontiers in public health · 2020Review
- Programmatic outcomes and impact of rapid public sector antiretroviral therapy expansion in adults prior to introduction of the WHO treat-all approach in rural Eswatini.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2019Article
- Identifying and Reengaging Patients Lost to Follow-Up in Rural Africa: The "Horizontal" Hospital-Based Approach in Uganda.Global health, science and practice · 2019Article
- Loss to follow-up from antiretroviral therapy clinics: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies in South Africa from 2011 to 2015.Southern African journal of HIV medicine · 2019Article
- Status of HIV-infected patients classified as lost to follow up from a large antiretroviral program in southwest Nigeria.PloS one · 2019Article
- Retention of HIV infected pregnant and breastfeeding women on option B+ in Gomba District, Uganda: a retrospective cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2018Article
- The Effect of Monitoring Viral Load and Tracing Patients Lost to Follow-up on the Course of the HIV Epidemic in Malawi: A Mathematical Model.Open forum infectious diseases · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundA large proportion of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low and middle income countries (LMICs) have unknown treatment outcomes and are classified as lost to follow-up (LTFU). Physical tracing of patients classified as LTFU is common; however, effects of tracing on outcomes remains unclear. The objective of this systematic review is to compare estimates of LTFU, mortality and retention in LMIC in cohorts of patients with and without physical tracing. METHODS AND
findingsWe systematically identified studies in LMIC programmatic settings using MEDLINE (2003-2011) and HIV conference abstracts (2009-2011). Studies reporting the proportion LTFU 12-months after ART initiation were included. Tracing activities were determined from manuscripts or by contacting study authors. Studies were classified as "tracing studies" if physical tracing was available for the majority of patients. Summary estimates from the 2 groups of studies (tracing and non-tracing) for LTFU, mortality, stop of ART, transfers out, and retention on ART were determined. 261 papers and 616 abstracts were identified of which 39 studies comprising 54 separate cohorts (n = 187,666) met inclusion criteria. Of those, physical tracing was available for 46% of cohorts. Treatment programs with physical tracing activities had lower estimated LTFU (7.6% vs. 15.1%; p<.001), higher estimated mortality (10.5% vs. 6.6%; p = .006), higher retention on ART (80.0 vs. 75.8%; p = .04) and higher retention at the original site (80.0% vs. 72.9%; p = .02).
conclusionsKnowledge of patient tracing is critical when interpreting program outcomes of LTFU, mortality and retention. The reduction of the proportion LTFU in tracing studies was only partially explained by re-classification of unknown outcomes. These data suggest that tracing may lead to increased re-engagement of patients in care, rather than just improved classification of unknown outcomes.
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