ArticlePloS one2017
Predictors of loss to follow-up among patients on ART at a rural hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
46 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Interventions to improve early retention of patients in antiretroviral therapy programmes in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Strategies for retention of heterosexual men in HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Incidence and predictors of lost to follow-up in "test and treat era" among adults on ART in Eastern Ethiopia: a retrospective follow-up study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Article
- Trends in advanced HIV disease, treatment interruption, and viraemia in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Characteristics of Individuals With Advanced HIV Disease and Risk Factors for Mortality in a Contemporary Cohort in South Africa.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2026Article
- A competing risk analysis of predictors of time to lost to follow-up among adults with TB/HIV coinfection in Bahir Dar.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Trajectories and predictors of HIV care retention among individuals receiving ART in rural South Africa: a group-based trajectory modelling analysis.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Outcome of HIV patients on ART during the war and siege in a tertiary hospital in Northern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Retention in care of people on antiretroviral therapy who inject drugs in South Africa.Southern African journal of HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Time-dependent predictors of loss to follow-up in HIV care in low-resource settings: A competing risks approach.PloS one · 2025Article
- Tracking People Living with HIV in Loss to Follow Up in Central Brazil: A Call for Attention to Health Services.AIDS and behavior · 2024Article
- Article
- Interaction of social support and depressive symptoms on antiretroviral therapy adherence among people living with HIV in South Africa.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2024Article
- HIV Related Behaviors Among Male Partners of Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Rural South Africa.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- Association Between Time to Antiretroviral Therapy and Loss to Care Among Newly Diagnosed Rwandan People Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus.AIDS research and human retroviruses · 2023Article
- Predictors of the observed high prevalence of loss to follow-up in ART-experienced adult PLHIV: a retrospective longitudinal cohort study in the Tanga Region, Tanzania.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Article
- Historical visit attendance as predictor of treatment interruption in South African HIV patients: Extension of a validated machine learning model.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionImproved HIV outcomes as a result of expanded antiretroviral therapy (ART) access is threatened by increasing rates of loss to follow up (LTFU) among those on ART, largely reported in urban populations. Some reports suggest that LTFU rates are overestimated due to patient movement to other facilities and inadequate medical records. STUDY
objectiveTo define the proportion disengaging from HIV care as well as the characteristics of those LTFU in order to design and implement appropriate interventions to increase retention.
methodsWe performed a retrospective review of patients who discontinued ART at a central hospital ART clinic in rural South Africa and compared with patients receiving care at the 15 primary health clinics (PHCs) to determine the true proportion of those who were LTFU. We also compared those who discontinued ART with those who did not at the central hospital ART clinic to determine predictors of loss to follow up.
resultsAmong 3242 patients on ART, 820 were originally marked as LTFU. Among all patients, 272 (8.4%) were found at a clinic on treatment, 56 (1.7%) were found at a clinic from which they had since discontinued treatment, and 10 (0.3%) returned to care between June and July 2016, leaving 475 (14.7%) unaccounted for and thus categorized as 'true' LTFU. Factors found to be associated with discontinuation include being male, age 18-35, having a CD4 count under 200 cells/μL, and being on ART for under six months.
conclusionsYoung men with low CD4 counts early after ART initiation are at highest risk of ART disengagement in this rural South African HIV clinic. Novel interventions targeting this group are needed to improve retention in care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.