Table 2:
Baseline characteristics of patients who either remained in the program, or were lost to follow-up in the PART initiative, Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon, (March 2003– January 2005)
| Characteristic | All | Remained in the program a | Lost to follow-up | p | |||
| Demographic, (no. = 455) | 354 (77·8) | 101 (22·2) | |||||
| Female | 314 (69) | 247 (70) | 67 (66) | NS | |||
| Age, mean (SD), years | 37 (9) | 37·5 (9) | 37 (9) | NS | |||
| Yaoundé | 290 (63·7) | 216 (61) | 74 (73) | · 02 | |||
| WHO stage at HAART initiation (no. = 455) | |||||||
| Stage I/II | 274 (62) | 217 (63) | 57 (58) | NS | |||
| Stage III/IV | 171 (38) | 130 (37·5) | 41 (42) | NS | |||
| CD4 counts (no. = 455) | |||||||
| Mean (SD), cells per μL | 110 (39 – 177) | 121 (111 – 133) | 96 (76 – 116) | · 02 d | |||
| Count < 50 cells per μL | 145 (32) | 101 (29) | 44 (44) | · 004 d | |||
| Active tuberculosis | 40 (9) | 26 (7) | 14 (14) | · 04 d | |||
| HAART regimen b (no. = 455) | |||||||
| d4T/ 3TC/ NVP | 135 (30) | 116 (33) | 19 (19) | NS | |||
| d4T/ 3TC/ EFV | 103 (23) | 74 (21) | 29 (29) | NS | |||
| AZT/ 3TC/ IND | 77 (17) | 54 (15) | 23 (23) | NS | |||
| AZT/ 3TC/ EFV | 71 (16) | 57 (16) | 14 (14) | NS | |||
| d4T/ 3TC/ RIT | 57 (12) | 44 (12) | 13 (13) | NS | |||
| Other c | 12 (2) | 9 (2·5) | 3 (3) | NS | |||
| HAART-naïve (no. = 452) | 395 (87·4) | 308 (87·5) | 87 (87) | NS | |||
| Patient co-payment for HAART (%) e (no. = 432) | |||||||
| > 50 | 23 (5·3) | 19 (5·7) | 4 (4·1) | 0.05 d | |||
| 49 – 25 | 187 (43·3) | 134 (40·1) | 53 (54·1) | ||||
| < 25 | 222 (51·4) | 181 (54·2) | 41 (41·8) | ||||
Note: Data are no. (%) of patients, unless otherwise indicated. Statistical comparisons were made between characteristics of those who were observed (retained in care, or known death) compared with the characteristics of those who were lost to the program. SD, standard deviation.
These include patients remaining alive in care and those known death.
HAART (d4T: Stavudine; 3TC: Lamivudine; NVP: Nevirapine; AZT: Zidovudine; IND: Indinavir; RIT: Ritonavir; ddI: didanosine)
AZT/ 3TC/ NVP; AZT/ ddI/ EFZ; IND/ddI/NFV; 3TC/ddI/ EFZ.
P < .05 (We used Pearson Chi-square for categorical and 2-tailed t-test for continuous variables) NS, non significant.
HAART monthly cost shared by patient defines the percentage of the monthly HAART cost that patients paid out-of-pocket, and this was calculated using a scoring scale described in table 1 .