Factors associated to late clinical stage at the initiation of antiretroviral therapy

Factors associated to late clinical stage at the initiation of antiretroviral therapy. In order to evaluate the frequency of a late clinical stage in HIV infected patients at onset of antiretroviral therapy (LART) and to identify possible associated factors, we performed a retrospective analysis of data reported in two prospective cohorts of HIV infected patients who started antiretroviral therapy for the first time between 2005 and 2009. Medical records of 265 patients -123 women (46.6%) and 141 men, median age 37.7 years old- were analyzed. LART was observed in 132 cases (50%), out of them 102 (77.2%) were associated to late diagnosis of HIV infection and 30 (22.8%) to patients that had not been retained in HIV care. The median of CD4 was 120 cells/ml and that of viral load 58 038 copies/ml. CD4 cells count was below 200 cells/ml in 174 patients (71.3%). There was a higher incidence of LART in men than in women (59.8% and 42.2% respectively). Diagnosis in women took place during pregnancy control in 25:2% of the cases. High alcohol consumption (p 0.006), single hood (p 0.04) and level of education lower than secondary (p 0.008) were associated to LART at bivariate analysis. Male sex (p 0.003) was the only associated factor both in bivariate and multivariate analysis. Our data reinforce the need of expanding HIV testing and should assist programs to define actions promoting early entry in HIV care.