Outcomes of the South African National Antiretroviral Treatment Programme for children: the IeDEA Southern Africa collaboration.
OBJECTIVE
To assess paediatric antiretroviral treatment (ART) outcomes and their associations from a collaborative cohort representing 20% of the South African national treatment programme.


METHODS
Multi-cohort study of 7 public sector paediatric ART programmes in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.


METHODS
ART-naive children (< or = 16 years) who commenced treatment with > or = 3 antiretroviral drugs before March 2008.


METHODS
Time to death or loss to follow-up were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Associations between baseline characteristics and mortality were assessed with Cox proportional hazards models stratified by site. Immune status, virological suppression and growth were described in relation to duration of ART.


RESULTS
The median (interquartile range) age of 6 078 children with 9 368 child-years of follow-up was 43 (15 - 83) months, with 29% being < 18 months. Most were severely ill at ART initiation. More than 75% of children were appropriately monitored at 6-monthly intervals with viral load suppression (< 400 copies/ml) being 80% or above throughout 36 months of treatment. Mortality and retention in care at 3 years were 7.7% (95% confidence interval 7.0 - 8.6%) and 81.4% (80.1 - 82.6%), respectively. Together with young age, all markers of disease severity (low weight-for-age z-score, high viral load, severe immune suppression, stage 3/4 disease and anaemia) were independently associated with mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Dramatic clinical benefit for children accessing the national ART programme is demonstrated. Higher mortality in infants and those with advanced disease highlights the need for early diagnosis of HIV infection and commencement of ART.
School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town. Mary-Ann.Davies@uct.ac.za
Mary-Ann
MA
Davies
Olivia
O
Keiser
Karl
K
Technau
Brian
B
Eley
Helena
H
Rabie
Gilles
G
van Cutsem
Janet
J
Giddy
Robin
R
Wood
Andrew
A
Boulle
Matthias
M
Egger
Harry
H
Moultrie
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents