title: Characteristics of HIV patients who missed their scheduled appointments.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze whether sociodemographic characteristics, consultations and care in special services are associated with scheduled infectious diseases appointments missed by people living with HIV.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional and analytical study included 3,075 people living with HIV who had at least one scheduled appointment with an infectologist at a specialized health unit in 2007. A secondary data base from the Hospital Management & Information System was used. The outcome variable was missing a scheduled medical appointment. The independent variables were sex, age, appointments in specialized and available disciplines, hospitalizations at the Central Institute of the Clinical Hospital at the Faculdade de Medicina of the Universidade de São Paulo, antiretroviral treatment and change of infectologist. Crude and multiple association analysis were performed among the variables, with a statistical significance of p ≤ 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than a third (38.9%) of the patients missed at least one of their scheduled infectious diseases appointments; 70.0% of the patients were male. The rate of missed appointments was 13.9%, albeit with no observed association between sex and absences. Age was inversely associated to missed appointment. Not undertaking anti-retroviral treatment, having unscheduled infectious diseases consultations or social services care and being hospitalized at the Central Institute were directly associated to missed appointments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Hospital Management & Information System proved to be a useful tool for developing indicators related to the quality of health care of people living with HIV. Other informational systems, which are often developed for administrative purposes, can also be useful for local and regional management and for evaluating the quality of care provided for patients living with HIV.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Delsa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.affiliation: Instituto Central do Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Eliana Battaggia
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents