Publication
Title
Initiating antiretroviral treatment in a resource-constrained setting: does clinical staging effectively identify patients in need?
Author
Abstract
In industrialized countries, the initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is based on virological, immunological and clinical markers. The objective of this study was to identify treatment gaps when ART initiation is based on clinical staging alone. The method employed was a retrospective study of 5784 patients enrolled in an HIV treatment programme in two urban and two rural sites in Ghana. Of the patients, 29.5% were in clinical Stages I and II and had a CD4+ T-lymphocyte count less than 200 cells/mm3. Significantly more patients in clinical Stage I from urban sites (37.0%) had a CD4+ T-lymphocyte count less than 200 cells/mm3 as compared with patients from rural sites (23.8%) (P value <0.05). In addition, more men (39.9%) in clinical Stage I had a CD4+ T-lymphocyte count less than 200 cells/mm3 when compared with women (27.4%) (P value <0.05). In conclusion, clinical staging cannot identify a relatively large number of patients who need ART. A wider availability of CD4+ T-lymphocyte count testing will optimize the identification of patients eligible for ART.
Language
English
Source (journal)
International journal of STD and AIDS / Association for Genito-Urinary Medicine [Belfast]; International Union Against the Venereal Diseases and the Treponematoses. - London, 1990, currens
Publication
London : 2009
ISSN
0956-4624 [print]
1758-1052 [online]
Volume/pages
20 :6 (2009) , p. 395-398
ISI
000267143900007
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 19.01.2010
Last edited 25.05.2022
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