Woodd, Susannah L; Grosskurth, Heiner; Levin, Jonathan; Amuron, Barbara; Namara, Geoffrey; Birunghi, Josephine; Coutinho, Alex; Jaffar, Shabbar; (2014) Home-based versus clinic-based care for patients starting antiretroviral therapy with low CD4⁺ cell counts: findings from a cluster-randomized trial. AIDS (London, England), 28 (4). pp. 569-576. ISSN 0269-9370 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/QAD.0000000000000056
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES: African health services have shortages of clinical staff. We showed previously, in a cluster-randomized trial, that a home-based strategy using trained lay-workers is as effective as a clinic-based strategy. It is not known whether home-based care is suitable for patients with advanced HIV disease. METHODS: The trial was conducted in Jinja, Uganda. One thousand, four hundred and fifty-three adults initiating ART between February 2005 and January 2009 were randomized to receive either home-based care or routine clinic-based care, and followed up for about 3 years. Trained lay workers, supervised by clinical staff based in a clinic, delivered the home-based care. In this sub-analysis, we compared survival between the two strategies for those who presented with CD4⁺ cell count less than 50 cells/μl and those who presented with higher CD4⁺ cell counts. We used Kaplan-Meier methods and Poisson regression. RESULTS: Four hundred and forty four of 1453 (31%) participants had baseline CD4⁺ cell count less than 50 cells/μl. Overall, 110 (25%) deaths occurred among participants with baseline CD4⁺ cell count less than 50 cells/μl and 87 (9%) in those with higher CD4⁺ cell count. Among participants with CD4 cell count less than 50 cells/μl, mortality rates were similar for the home and facility-based arms; adjusted mortality rate ratio 0.80 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53-1.18] compared with 1.22 (95% CI 0.78-1.89) for those who presented with higher CD4⁺ cell count. CONCLUSION: HIV home-based care, with lay workers playing a major role in the delivery of care including providing monthly adherence support, leads to similar survival rates as clinic-based care even among patients who present with very low CD4⁺ cell count. This emphasises the critical role of adherence to antiretroviral therapy.
Item Type | Article |
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Faculty and Department |
Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health > Dept of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (-2023) Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health > Dept of Infectious Disease Epidemiology & International Health (2023-) |
Research Centre |
Maternal and Newborn Health Group Tropical Epidemiology Group |
PubMed ID | 24468997 |
ISI | 332387000013 |
Related URLs |