Home-based versus clinic-based care for patients starting antiretroviral therapy with low CD4⁺ cell counts: findings from a cluster-randomized trial.
OBJECTIVE
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
aFaculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK bMRC/UVRI Research Unit on AIDS, Entebbe cThe AIDS Support Organisation dInfectious Disease Institute, Kampala, Uganda.
Susannah L
SL
Woodd
Heiner
H
Grosskurth
Jonathan
J
Levin
Barbara
B
Amuron
Geoffrey
G
Namara
Josephine
J
Birunghi
Alex
A
Coutinho
Shabbar
S
Jaffar
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods*; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active / Q000379:methods*; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology*; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014454:Uganda
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents