title: Gender differences in survival among adult patients starting antiretroviral therapy in South Africa: a multicentre cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increased mortality among men on antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been documented but remains poorly understood. We examined the magnitude of and risk factors for gender differences in mortality on ART.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses included 46,201 ART-naïve adults starting ART between January 2002 and December 2009 in eight ART programmes across South Africa (SA). Patients were followed from initiation of ART to outcome or analysis closure. The primary outcome was mortality; secondary outcomes were loss to follow-up (LTF), virologic suppression, and CD4+ cell count responses. Survival analyses were used to examine the hazard of death on ART by gender. Sensitivity analyses were limited to patients who were virologically suppressed and patients whose CD4+ cell count reached >200 cells/µl. We compared gender differences in mortality among HIV+ patients on ART with mortality in an age-standardised HIV-negative population. Among 46,201 adults (65% female, median age 35 years), during 77,578 person-years of follow-up, men had lower median CD4+ cell counts than women (85 versus 110 cells/µl, p<0.001), were more likely to be classified WHO stage III/IV (86 versus 77%, p<0.001), and had higher mortality in crude (8.5 versus 5.7 deaths/100 person-years, p<0.001) and adjusted analyses (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] 1.31, 95% CI 1.22-1.41). After 36 months on ART, men were more likely than women to be truly LTF (AHR 1.20, 95% CI 1.12-1.28) but not to die after LTF (AHR 1.04, 95% CI 0.86-1.25). Findings were consistent across all eight programmes. Virologic suppression was similar by gender; women had slightly better immunologic responses than men. Notably, the observed gender differences in mortality on ART were smaller than gender differences in age-standardised death rates in the HIV-negative South African population. Over time, non-HIV mortality appeared to account for an increasing proportion of observed mortality. The analysis was limited by missing data on baseline HIV disease characteristics, and we did not observe directly mortality in HIV-negative populations where the participating cohorts were located.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HIV-infected men have higher mortality on ART than women in South African programmes, but these differences are only partly explained by more advanced HIV disease at the time of ART initiation, differential LTF and subsequent mortality, and differences in responses to treatment. The observed differences in mortality on ART may be best explained by background differences in mortality between men and women in the South African population unrelated to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology & Research, School of Public Health & Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. morna.cornell@uct.ac.za
authors.forename: Morna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cornell
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schomaker
authors.forename: Daniela Belen
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Garone
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Giddy
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lessells
authors.forename: Mhairi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maskew
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Prozesky
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Leigh F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egger
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boulle
authors.forename: Landon
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Myer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents