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Published:
Dec 16, 2020DOI:
10.4314/ahs.v20i4.6Keywords:
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Main Article Content
Characteristics and treatment outcomes of HIV infected elderly patients enrolled in Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya
Abstract
Background: A better understanding of the baseline characteristics of elderly people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) is relevant because the world’s HIV population is ageing.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the baseline characteristics of PLWHA aged ≥ 50years at recruitment to HIV/ AIDS clinic compared against the viral load (VL) and CD4 count among patients attending Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital (KTRH), Kenya.
Methods: We retrospectively evaluated temporal inclinations of CD4 levels, viral load change and baseline demographic characteristics in the electronic records at the hospital using a mixed error-component model for 1329 PLWHA attending clinic between January 2008 and December 2019.
Results: Findings showed a significant difference in the comparison between baseline VL and WHO AIDS staging (p=0.026). Overall VL levels decreased over the period significantly by WHO AIDS staging (p<0.0001). Significant difference was ob- served by gender (p<0.0001), across age groups (p<0.0001) and baseline CD4 counts (p=0.003). There were significant differences in WHO staging by CD4 count >200cell/mm3 (p=0.048) and residence (p=0.001).
Conclusion: Age, WHO AIDS staging, gender and residence are relevant parameters associated with viral load decline and CD4 count in elderly PLWHA. A noticeable VL suppression was attained confirming possible attainment of VL suppression among PLWHA under clinical care.
Keywords: HIV infected elderly patients; Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya.
