title: [Factors determining irregular attendance to follow-up visits among human immunodeficiency virus patients: results of the hospital survey of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To describe the occurrence of non-regular attendance to follow-up visits among HIV patients and to analyze the determining factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-day survey carried out annually (2002-2012) in public hospitals. Epidemiological, clinical and behavioral data are collected in all HIV-infected inpatients and outpatients receiving HIV-related care on the day of the survey. "Non-regular attendance to a follow-up visit" was defined as sporadic attendance to the medical appointments, according to the judgment of the attending physician. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed, and factors associated to non-regular attendance to follow-up visits were estimated using logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 7,304 subjects were included, of whom 13.7% did not attend medical appointments regularly. Factors directly associated with non-regular attendance were: age between 25-49 years; birth in Sub-Saharan Africa or Latin-America; low educational level; being homeless or in prison; living alone or in closed institutions; being unemployed or retired; being an intravenous drug user; not using a condom at last sexual encounter, and injecting drugs in the last 30 days. Conversely, HIV diagnosis within the last year and being men who have sex with men were factors inversely associated with non-regular attendance to follow-up visits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In spite of health care beings free of charge for everyone in Spain, social factors can act as barriers to regular attendance to medical appointments, which, in turn, can endanger treatment effectiveness in some population groups. This should be taken into account when planning HIV policies in Spain.
authors.affiliation: Área de Vigilancia del VIH y comportamientos de riesgo, Centro Nacional de Epidemiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España. Electronic address: adiaz@isciii.es.
authors.forename: Asuncion
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.affiliation: Plan sida, Servicio de Promoción y Protección de Salud, Subdirección General de Promoción de la Salud y Prevención, DG salud pública, Conselleria de Sanidad de Valencia, Valencia, España.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ten
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Vigilancia Epidemiológica y Enfermedades Transmisibles, DG de Salud Pública, Consejería de Sanidad de Castilla y León, Valladolid, España.
authors.forename: Henar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Marcos
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Epidemiología, DG de Salud Pública, Consejería de Sanidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, España.
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: González-García
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital de Fuenlabrada, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Barrios
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario de Torrejón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arponen
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Infanta Elena, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Portillo
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario del Henares, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Regino
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital del Sureste, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: García
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario Infanta Cristina, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.affiliation: Coordinación de VIH/sida, Servicio de Promoción de la Salud y Prevención de la Enfermedad, DG de Salud Pública de Aragón, Zaragoza, España.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Toledo
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Evaluación de la Salud y Programas, DG de Salud Pública, Consejería de Sanidad, Asturias, Oviedo, España.
authors.forename: Maria Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Royo
authors.affiliation: Oficina de Coordinación VIH de Extremadura, Servicio de Participación Comunitaria en Salud, DG de Salud Pública, Servicio Extremeño de Salud, Mérida, Extremadura, España.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Epidemiología y Promoción de la Salud, DG de Salud Pública, Servicio Canario de la Salud, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, España.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Izquierdo
authors.affiliation: Sección de Vigilancia Epidemiológica, DG de Salud Pública, Santander, Cantabria, España.
authors.forename: Luis Javier
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Viloria
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Prevención y Epidemiología del Plan sobre sida, Consejería de Sanidad y Consumo, Ceuta, España.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: Sección de Promoción de Salud, Instituto de Salud Pública y Laboral, Pamplona, Navarra, España.
authors.forename: Lázaro
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Elizalde
authors.affiliation: Sección de Vigilancia Epidemiológica y Control de Enfermedades Transmisibles, DG de Salud Pública y Consumo, Logroño, La Rioja, España.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Epidemiología, DG de Sanidad y Consumo, Consejería de Bienestar Social y Sanidad, Melilla, España.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Castrillejo
authors.affiliation: Coordinación Autonómica de Drogas y de la Estrategia de Sida, DG de Salut Pública i Consum, Conselleria de Salut, Família i Bienestar Social, Palma, Baleares, España.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aranguren
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, España.
authors.forename: Caridad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Redondo
authors.affiliation: Área de Vigilancia del VIH y comportamientos de riesgo, Centro Nacional de Epidemiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España; Plan Nacional sobre el Sida, SG de Promoción de la Salud y Epidemiología, Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy; D015438:Health Behavior; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000067455:No-Show Patients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: AIDS; Human immunodeficiency virus; Loss of follow-up; Pérdidas de seguimiento; Retención en cuidados; Retention in care; Sida; Virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana