ArticlePloS one2018
Hospitalization and post-discharge care in South Africa: A critical event in the continuum of care.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Cause of Death and Risk of Death for People Living With HIV Admitted to Hospital: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2026Pooled it
- Outcomes of people living with HIV after hospital discharge: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The lancet. HIV · 2022Pooled it
- Reducing HIV-Associated Post-Hospital Mortality Through Home-Based Care in South Africa: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Trial
- Social and Structural Interventions to Reduce Strikingly High Post-Hospital Mortality for People Living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2025Review
- 'Not taking medications and taking medication, it was the same thing:' perspectives of antiretroviral therapy among people hospitalised with advanced HIV disease.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- TB diagnoses and mortality in hospitalized people living with HIV in South Africa.The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease · 2024Article
- Measuring the continuing care needs of inpatients in rural China.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Public sector physiotherapists' organisation and profile: Implications for intensive care service.The South African journal of physiotherapy · 2023Article
- Interventions to reduce deaths in people living with HIV admitted to hospital in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Health system determinants of tuberculosis mortality in South Africa: a causal loop model.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Care Continuum and Postdischarge Outcomes Among HIV-Infected Adults Admitted to the Hospital in Zambia.Open forum infectious diseases · 2019Article
- Readmission and death following hospitalization among people with HIV in South Africa.PloS one · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe purpose of this prospective cohort study is to characterize the event of acute hospitalization for people living with and without HIV and describe its impact on the care continuum. This study describes care-seeking behavior prior to an index hospitalization, inpatient HIV testing and diagnosis, discharge instructions, and follow-up care for patients for patients being discharged from a single hospital in South Africa.
methodsA convenience sample of adult patients was recruited from the medical wards of a tertiary care facility. Baseline information at the time of hospital admission, subsequent diagnoses, and discharge instructions were recorded. Participants were prospectively followed with phone calls for six months after hospital discharge. Descriptive analyses were performed.
resultsA total of 293 participants were enrolled in the study. Just under half (46%) of the participants were known to be living with HIV at the time of hospital admission. Most participants (97%) were given a referral for follow-up care; often that appointment was scheduled within two weeks of discharge (64%). Only 36% of participants returned to care within the first month, 50% returned after at least one month had elapsed, and 14% of participants did not return for any follow up.
conclusionsLarge discrepancies were found between the type of post-discharge follow-up care recommended by providers and what patients were able to achieve. The period of time following hospital discharge represents a key transition in care. Additional research is needed to characterize patients' risk following hospitalization and to develop patient-centered interventions.
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