title: Determinants of Survival in Adult HIV Clients on Antiretroviral Therapy in Lawra and Jirapa Districts of Upper West Region, Ghana.
abstract: We describe the rate of death and identify the determinants of survival in a cohort of adults starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2 hospitals in Upper West Region, Ghana. Kaplan-Meier model was used to estimate the survival probability after ART initiation and Cox proportional hazard model used to assess the relationship between baseline variables and mortality. A total of 91 clients who were initiated on ART in both hospitals participated in the study. Clients staged in the World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stage III/IV had a higher risk of mortality than those staging I/II (hazard ratio [HR] of 3.93). Hemoglobin value at baseline with a cutoff ≥12 g/dL for women (and ≥13 for men) was strongly associated with mortality in participants with an HR of 3.87 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.71-21.19) for severe anemia, 2.11 (95% CI: 0.45-9.93) for moderate anemia, and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.16-4.82) for mild anemia. Anemia and WHO staging were independent predictors of mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA goasare@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Gabriel Asare
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Okyere
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: Paul Awinbil
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Alalbil
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ping-Naah
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: Yakubu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tifere
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005869:Ghana; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents
keywords: AIDS; Cox proportional hazard; HIV; Kaplan-Meier; survival function