Patterns and patient factors associated with loss to follow-up in the Muhimbili Sickle Cell Cohort, Tanzania

Abstract Background: Monitoring patient's clinical attendance is a crucial means of improving retention in care and treatment programmes. Sickle cell patients' outcomes are improved by participation in comprehensive care programmes, but these benefits cannot be achieved when patients are lost from clinical care. In this study, patients are defined as loss to follow-up when they did not attend clinic for more than nine months. Precise information on the retention rate and characteristics of those who are not following their clinic appointments is needed to enable the implementation of interventions that will be effective in increasing the retention to care. Method: This was a retrospective study involving sickle cell patients registered in the Muhimbili Sickle Cohort in Tanzania. Descriptive and survival analysis techniques both non-parametric methods (Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log-rank test) and semi-parametric method (Cox’s proportional hazard model), were used. A p-value of 0.05 was considered significant to make an inference from the analysis. Results: A total of 5476 patients were registered in the cohort from 2004 to 2016. Of these, 3350 (58.13%) were actively participating in clinics, while 2126 (41.87%) were inactive, of which 1927 (35.19%) were loss to follow-up. We used data from 2004-2014 because between 2015-2016, patients were referred to other government hospitals. From the survival analysis results, pediatric (HR: 14.29,95% CI: 11.0071-18.5768, p <0.001) and children between 5-17 years [HR:2.61,95% CI:2.2324 - 3.0705, p< 0.001] patients were more likely to be loss to follow-up than the adult (18 and above years) patients. It was found that patients with above averages for hematocrit (HR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.0076 - 1.0404, p=0.0039) or mean cell volume (HR: 4.28, (95% CI: 1.0260 - 1.0598, p<0.001) were more likely to be loss to follow-up than their counterparts. Conclusion: Loss to follow-up is evident in the cohort of patients in long term comprehensive care. It is, therefore, necessary to design interventions that improve patients’ retention. Suggested solutions include refresher training for health care workers and those responsible for patient follow-up on techniques for retaining patients and comprehensive transition programs to prepare patients who are moving from pediatric to adult clinics

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Patterns and patient factors associated with loss to follow-up in the Muhimbili Sickle Cell Cohort, Tanzania

10.21203/rs.3.rs-16167/v4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Upendo Masamu ◽

Raphael Zozimus Sangeda ◽

Daniel Kandoga ◽

Jesca Ondego ◽

Florah Ndobho ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Survival Analysis ◽

Sickle Cell ◽

Retention Rate ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Comprehensive Care ◽

Rank Test ◽

P Value ◽

Mean Cell Volume ◽

Loss To Follow Up

Abstract Background: Monitoring patient's clinical attendance is a crucial means of improving retention in care and treatment programmes. Sickle cell patients' outcomes are improved by participation in comprehensive care programmes, but these benefits cannot be achieved when patients are lost from clinical care. In this study, patients are defined as loss to follow-up when they did not attend clinic for more than nine months. Precise information on the retention rate and characteristics of those who are not following their clinic appointments is needed to enable the implementation of interventions that will be effective in increasing the retention to care. Method: This was a retrospective study involving sickle cell patients registered in the Muhimbili Sickle Cohort in Tanzania. Descriptive and survival analysis techniques both non-parametric methods (Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log-rank test) and semi-parametric method (Cox’s proportional hazard model), were used. A p-value of 0.05 was considered significant to make an inference from the analysis.Results: A total of 5476 patients were registered in the cohort from 2004 to 2016. Of these, 3350 (58.13%) were actively participating in clinics, while 2126 (41.87%) were inactive, of which 1927 (35.19%) were loss to follow-up. We used data from 2004-2014 because between 2015-2016, patients were referred to other government hospitals. From the survival analysis results, pediatric (HR: 14.29,95% CI: 11.0071-18.5768, p <0.001) and children between 5-17 years [HR:2.61,95% CI:2.2324 - 3.0705, p< 0.001] patients were more likely to be loss to follow-up than the adult (18 and above years) patients. It was found that patients with above averages for hematocrit (HR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.0076 - 1.0404, p=0.0039) or mean cell volume (HR: 4.28, (95% CI: 1.0260 - 1.0598, p<0.001) were more likely to be loss to follow-up than their counterparts. Conclusion: Loss to follow-up is evident in the cohort of patients in long term comprehensive care. It is, therefore, necessary to design interventions that improve patients’ retention. Suggested solutions include refresher training for health care workers and those responsible for patient follow-up on techniques for retaining patients and comprehensive transition programs to prepare patients who are moving from pediatric to adult clinics

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Patterns and patient factors associated with loss to follow-up in the Muhimbili Sickle Cell Cohort, Tanzania

10.21203/rs.3.rs-16167/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Upendo Masamu ◽

Raphael Zozimus Sangeda ◽

Daniel Kandoga ◽

Jesca Ondego ◽

Florah Ndobho ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Survival Analysis ◽

Sickle Cell ◽

Retention Rate ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Comprehensive Care ◽

Rank Test ◽

P Value ◽

Mean Cell Volume ◽

Loss To Follow Up

Abstract Background: Monitoring patient's clinical attendance is a crucial means of improving retention in care and treatment programmes. Sickle cell patients' outcomes are improved by participation in comprehensive care programmes, but these benefits cannot be achieved when patients are lost from clinical care. In this study, patients are defined as loss to follow-up when they did not attend clinic for more than nine months. Precise information on the retention rate and characteristics of those who are not following their clinic appointments is needed to enable the implementation of interventions that will be effective in increasing the retention to care. Method: This was a retrospective study involving sickle cell patients registered in the Muhimbili Sickle Cohort in Tanzania. Descriptive and survival analysis techniques both non-parametric methods (Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log-rank test) and semi-parametric method (Cox’s proportional hazard model), were used. A p-value of 0.05 was considered significant to make an inference from the analysis.Results: A total of 5476 patients were registered in the cohort from 2004 to 2016. Of these, 3350 (58.13%) were actively participating in clinics, while 2126 (41.87%) were inactive, of which 1927 (35.19%) were loss to follow-up. We used data from 2004-2014 because between 2015-2016, patients were referred to other government hospitals. From the survival analysis results, pediatric (HR: 14.29,95% CI: 11.0071-18.5768, p <0.001) and children between 5-17 years [HR:2.61,95% CI:2.2324 - 3.0705, p< 0.001] patients were more likely to be loss to follow-up than the adult (18 and above years) patients. It was found that patients with above averages for hematocrit (HR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.0076 - 1.0404, p=0.0039) or mean cell volume (HR: 4.28, (95% CI: 1.0260 - 1.0598, p<0.001) were more likely to be loss to follow-up than their counterparts. Conclusion: Loss to follow-up is evident in the cohort of patients in long term comprehensive care. It is, therefore, necessary to design interventions that improve patients’ retention. Suggested solutions include refresher training for health care workers and those responsible for patient follow-up on techniques for retaining patients and comprehensive transition programs to prepare patients who are moving from pediatric to adult clinics

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Patterns and patient factors associated with loss to follow-up in the Muhimbili sickle cell cohort, Tanzania

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-020-05998-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Upendo Masamu ◽

Raphael Z. Sangeda ◽

Daniel Kandonga ◽

Jesca Ondengo ◽

Flora Ndobho ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Survival Analysis ◽

Sickle Cell ◽

Retention Rate ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Parametric Method ◽

Comprehensive Care ◽

Rank Test ◽

Mean Cell Volume ◽

Loss To Follow Up

Abstract Background Monitoring patient’s clinical attendance is a crucial means of improving retention in care and treatment programmes. Sickle cell patients’ outcomes are improved by participation in comprehensive care programmes, but these benefits cannot be achieved when patients are lost from clinical care. In this study, patients are defined as loss to follow-up when they did not attend clinic for more than 9 months. Precise information on the retention rate and characteristics of those who are not following their clinic appointments is needed to enable the implementation of interventions that will be effective in increasing the retention to care. Method This was a retrospective study involving sickle cell patients registered in the Muhimbili Sickle Cohort in Tanzania. Descriptive and survival analysis techniques both non-parametric methods (Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log-rank test) and semi-parametric method (Cox’s proportional hazard model), were used. A p-value of 0.05 was considered significant to make an inference from the analysis. Results A total of 5476 patients were registered in the cohort from 2004 to 2016. Of these, 3350 (58.13%) were actively participating in clinics, while 2126 (41.87%) were inactive, of which 1927 (35.19%) were loss to follow-up. We used data from 2004 to 2014 because between 2015 and 2016, patients were referred to other government hospitals. From the survival analysis results, pediatric (HR: 14.29,95% CI: 11.0071–18.5768, p < 0.001) and children between 5 and 17 years [HR:2.61,95% CI:2.2324–3.0705, p < 0.001] patients were more likely to be loss to follow-up than the adult (18 and above years) patients. It was found that patients with above averages for hematocrit (HR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.0076–1.0404, p = 0.0039) or mean cell volume (HR: 4.28, (95% CI: 1.0260–1.0598, p < 0.001) were more likely to be loss to follow-up than their counterparts. Conclusion Loss to follow-up is evident in the cohort of patients in long term comprehensive care. It is, therefore, necessary to design interventions that improve patients’ retention. Suggested solutions include refresher training for health care workers and those responsible for patient follow-up on techniques for retaining patients and comprehensive transition programs to prepare patients who are moving from pediatric to adult clinics.

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Adherence patterns among patients receiving healthcare services in the Muhimbili Sickle Cell Cohort, Tanzania

10.21203/rs.3.rs-16167/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Upendo Masamu ◽

Raphael Zozimus Sangeda ◽

Daniel Kandoga ◽

Jesca Ondego ◽

Florah Ndobho ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Survival Analysis ◽

Sickle Cell ◽

Parametric Method ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Rank Test ◽

P Value ◽

Mean Cell Volume ◽

Loss To Follow Up ◽

Lost To Follow Up

Abstract Background: Monitoring of patient’s clinical attendance is one of the crucial means that is used to improve adherence to care and treatment among the Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) patients. Adherence to care has been shown to improve health outcomes in SCD patients. However, these benefits cannot be achieved when patients are lost to follow-up to care. Method : We analyzed data on loss to follow up to determine the patterns among sickle cell patients registered at Muhimbili Sickle Cell Cohort (MSC), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Data was aggregated and analysed using R software and Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. Survival analysis techniques, both non-parametric methods (Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log-rank test) and semi-parametric method (Cox’s proportional hazard model), were used. A p-value of 0.05 was considered significant to make a strong inference of the analysis. Results: 5476 SCD patients were registered at MSC from 2004 to 2016, 3350 (58.13%) were actively participating in clinics while, 2126 (41.87%) were inactive, out of which 35.19% were lost to follow-up. From the survival analysis results, patients who were between 5 to 17 years were more likely to be lost to follow-up than the rest with a hazard ratio of 2.65 times more than those who were above 18 years. Patients with mean cell volume above 77.73 fL and white blood cell above 15.73(10ˆ3/uL) were more likely to be loss to follow-up than those below average. Conclusion: Loss to follow-up is evident in a cohort of patients in long term comprehensive care follow-up. It is, therefore, necessary to design interventions that minimize its impacts. Suggested solutions might include training of the health care workers, more emphasis on newborn screening and advocacy to patients regarding the effect of loss to follow-up.

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Retention of pediatric patients in care: a study of the Kibera Community Health Center HIV/AIDS Program

African Health Sciences ◽

10.4314/ahs.v21i1.7s ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 39-43

Author(s):

Sara K Muli-Kinagwi ◽

Meshack Ndirangu ◽

Onesmus Gachuno ◽

Samuel Muhula

Keyword(s):

Community Health ◽

Health Center ◽

Pediatric Patients ◽

Retention Rate ◽

Community Health Center ◽

P Value ◽

Loss To Follow Up ◽

Hiv Exposed ◽

Hiv Aids

Background: In 2011, 3.4 million children were living with HIV worldwide1. Objectives: Describe the characteristics of pediatric patients enrolled into the HIV program at the Kibera community health center between January 2012 and March 2013. Determine the proportion of enrolled paediatric patients lost to follow up. Determine the correlates associated with retention and loss to follow up. Methods: The study was a retrospective cohort study of program data of all pediatric patients enrolled into the HIV pro- gram in the facility between January 2012 and March 2013. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Results: Of the 100 pediatric patients enrolled during the study period, 79 and 21 were HIV negative and positive respec- tively. Only 4 (5%) of the HIV exposed Infants and 11 (52%) of the HIV positive children were started on ART within the study period. The retention rate of the children at 3 months was 87% while the retention at both 12 and 15 months was 79%. There was an association between the mother or guardian disclosing their status and the retention of the child (p-value 0.026). Conclusion: The disclosure of the HIV status by parent/guardian to the child was associated with better retention of the children in the program. Keyword: Pediatric patients in care; Kibera community health center; HIV/AIDS.

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Retention of pediatric patients in care: a study of the Kibera Community Health Center HIV/AIDS Program

African Health Sciences ◽

10.4314/ahs.v21i.7s ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 ◽

pp. 39-43

Author(s):

Sara K Muli-Kinagwi ◽

Meshack Ndirangu ◽

Onesmus Gachuno ◽

Samuel Muhula

Keyword(s):

Community Health ◽

Health Center ◽

Pediatric Patients ◽

Retention Rate ◽

Community Health Center ◽

P Value ◽

Loss To Follow Up ◽

Hiv Exposed ◽

Hiv Aids

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Functional Status and Incidence of Loss to Follow-up after Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation

KnE Life Sciences ◽

10.18502/kls.v0i0.8890 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rosita Dewi Ambarwati ◽

Hartati Eko Wardani ◽

Tika Dwi Tama

Keyword(s):

Antiretroviral Therapy ◽

Functional Status ◽

General Hospital ◽

Rank Test ◽

P Value ◽

Hiv Patients ◽

Loss To Follow Up ◽

Cox Proportional Hazard ◽

The Right

Taking medication for lifetime puts Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected patients in challenging situations. The loss to follow-up (LTFU) is a major problem arising from their non-compliance. Information about functional status as a predictor of LTFU is limited. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify the association between the functional status and the incidence of LTFU among HIV patients at Saiful Anwar General Hospital, Indonesia. A retrospective cohort study was conducted in the tropical diseases and infections division of the Saiful Anwar General Hospital by observing 148 HIV patients who were diagnosed in 2015. Data were collected based on existing data in medical records. The log-rank test was used to compare the time of LTFU between groups. Cox proportional hazard was used to determine the effect of functional status after being controlled by other variables. This study found that 65.9% of HIV patients were able to retain on antiretroviral therapy for 39 months. Functional status had a significant association with the time LTFU occurred. Ambulatory patients had a higher risk of experiencing LTFU than working functional status (AHR = 2.289; 95% CI 1.106–4.738; p-value = 0.026). Identifying the patient’s characteristic that has a higher risk of LTFU helps to determine the right strategy to ensure treatment adherence. Keywords: antiretroviral therapy (ART), functional status, HIV, loss to follow-up (LTFU), Indonesia

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Study the Prevalence of Depression in Patients Attending Comprehensive Care Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan

Research and Analysis Journal ◽

10.18535/raj/v4i09.01 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (9) ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Mehak Nimra ◽

Sobia Yousaf ◽

Huma Naz ◽

Hira Nain ◽

Tahreem Shahid ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Comprehensive Care ◽

P Value ◽

People Living With Hiv ◽

Care Centre ◽

Neuropsychiatric Complications ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Prevalence Of Depression ◽

Age Category

Abstract: Depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric complications of HIV disease, and this leads to worse HIV-related health outcomes. With 350 million people affected worldwide, rates of depression are roughly two times greater in people living with HIV than in the general population. Objective: Determine prevalence of depression in patients attending Comprehensive Care Centre Shifa international Hospital, Islamabad Design: Descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study. Settings: Shifa international Hospital, Islamabad Comprehensive Care Centre, Methods: This data is from a bigger study ‘prevalence of alcohol use disorders and depression in patients attending Comprehensive Care Centre (CCC). The study population consisted of PLWHA attending the CCC. Two hundred and seventy-two (N=272) participants from CCC attendants were recruited. All consenting male and female aged 18-65 years were interviewed using the researcher’s designed questioner to collect their socio-demographic characteristics. Fully completed questionnaires were entered into excel sheets and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20. Results: The overall prevalence of depression was 23.8%, with mild depression at 9.7%, moderate depression at 10.4% and severe depression accounting for 3.7%, respectively. Depression was associated with alcohol use (p=0.024). A significant difference between depression and age where depression levels worsens as age advances; respondents in age category of 18-21 years had less or no depression compared to those in the age category of 33 years and above. We found an association between depression and employment. Those laid-off work (1/3), and the retired (15%) had more depression compared to the employed (11%) or self-employed 6%, with a P value of 0.55 (borderline). On multivariate analysis severity of depression (OR=5.5, 95% CI of OR [2.1 –14.3], p<0.0001) was associated with male gender (OR=10, 95% CI of OR [3.6 –28.3], p<0.0001). Conclusion: The study findings indicate a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients attending the CCC. There is need to set-up appropriate interventions and strategies to reduce the prevalence of mental health disorders into routine HIV clinical care and support.

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Impact of a child -friendly clinic on retention of HIV-infected children in care: an intervention study

Nigerian Journal of Paediatrics ◽

10.4314/njp.v44i4.1 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 175-179

Author(s):

OR Ugwu

Keyword(s):

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy ◽

Retention Rate ◽

Retention In Care ◽

Hiv Care ◽

Satisfaction Survey ◽

Loss To Follow Up ◽

Child Friendly ◽

Children In Care ◽

The Impact

Background: Certain researchers have reported that a child-friendly clinic may improve patient/caregiver satisfaction at clinic attendance. This could serve as an innovation for reducing loss-to-follow up and increasing retention in care.Aim: To assess the impact of making the clinic more child-friendly on clinic experience, retention in care and loss-to-follow up of HIV -infected children.Method: The study was carried out in three phases. Phase one was a satisfaction survey to find out the patient/caregivers’ satisfaction of the clinic environment and services provided using a selfadministered questionnaire. Phase two was the creation of the childfriendly environment and phase three was a post-provision of child-friendly clinic satisfaction survey. The loss-to-follow up rate (failure to return to clinic ≥3months after the last scheduled clinic appointment in a child not known to be dead or transferred out of the facility) and retention rate (remaining alive and receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy) were also determined before and after setting up the childfriendly clinic.Results: There were 146 respondents before the study and 206 respondents after the intervention. The retention rate increased from 62.5% to 82% (p=0.02), while the loss-to-follow up rate dropped from 27.7% to 7.0% (p=0.00).Conclusion: Making the clinic area child-friendly can impact greatly on HIV care by improving patient satisfaction and retention of HIVinfected children in care and reducing loss-to-follow up.Key words: HIV, child-friendly environment, retention in care, loss to follow-up.

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Optimal percentage of biventricular pacing to obtain CRT response: how high is high enough

EP Europace ◽

10.1093/europace/euab116.460 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (Supplement_3) ◽

Author(s):

AF Esteves ◽

L Parreira ◽

D Mesquita ◽

M Fonseca ◽

JM Farinha ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Beta Blockers ◽

Biventricular Pacing ◽

Survival Function ◽

Cardiac Resynchronization ◽

Rank Test ◽

P Value ◽

Absolute Increase ◽

Cut Point ◽

Crt Response

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background The greatest benefit with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is achieved when biventricular pacing (BivP) percentage (%) is close to 100%. However, in some patients that goal can be challenging to obtain. Purpose Determine whether a lower BivP% could lead to similar CRT response and events, as compared with patients with BivP% >98%. Methods Patients with CRT followed up in a remote-monitoring network were retrospectively analyzed. BivP% was assessed and response to CRT was defined as an absolute increase in left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) >5% or a relative increase in LVEF >15%. Low BivP% was defined as <98%. Clinical, echocardiographic data and all-cause death during follow-up were evaluated. ROC curve and AUC were obtained to determine the discriminative power of BivP% as predictor of CRT response. Optimal cut-point value was obtained and patients were divided according to this value. Kaplan-Meyer survival function was used to compare survival in the different groups and the Log-rank test was used for comparison between the groups. Results 88 patients, 76% male, median age 73.5 (IQR 65.75-79.25) years were included. A CRT-D was implanted in 69%. Etiology was ischemic in 44%. 93% were under beta-blockers. Median LVEF before CRT was 27% (IQR 20.25-32). 44 patients (50%) had low BivP% (median 91%, IQR 96-99), 55% due to atrial fibrillation and 52% due to frequent premature ventricular complexes. After optimization of medical therapy, device programming and/or interventional procedures, we obtained a BivP >98% in 26 out of the 44 patients (59%). However, in 18 patients (20%) BivP% was <98% (median 95, IQR 92.25-96). 66% patients were CRT responders. Median follow-up was 36 (IQR 23.75-84) months. During follow-up, all-cause mortality was 27% (24 patients). Optimal cut-point value for predicting CRT response was 91% BivP% (AUC 0.644, p-value 0.047, 95% CI 0.496-0.792). The characteristics of the two groups didn’t differ significantly (Table). Survival was significantly higher in patients with BivP% >91% (Log-rank 3.667, p-value 0.050) – Figure. Conclusion In this population, BivP% >91% was sufficient to achieve CRT-response and was associated with a better survival. BivP% <91%(n = 4)BivP% >91%(n = 84)p-valueAge in years, median (IQR)72.50 (70.50-73.75)74.00 (65.00-80.00)0.666CRT-D, n (%)3 (75.0)58 (69.0)0.999Ischemic cardiopathy, n (%)3 (75.0)35 (41.7)0.311LVEF before CRT, median (IQR)27 (19-39)27 (20-32)0.795Beta-blockers, n (%)4 (100.0)78 (95.1)0.999Abstract Figure.

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