Table 2. Characteristics of the 92 patients included in the analysis.
| Characteristics | n = 92 |
| Female sex | 45 (49%) |
| Median age (iqr) | 41 (33–49) |
| Aged 10–15 years | 10 (11%) |
| Median months on ART (iqr) | 29 (19–41) |
| Previous ART-exposure | |
| - HAART | 4 (4%) |
| - PMTCT | 2 (2%) |
| Previous interruption of ART≥3 days | 17 (18%) |
| Adherence (VAS) (iqr) | 100% (95–100) |
| NRTI-backbone of current regimen | |
| - stavudine/lamivudine | 12 (13%) |
| - zidovudine/lamivudine | 37 (40%) |
| - tenofovir/lamivudine | 43 (47%) |
| Previous drug-substitution within first-line | 13 (14%) |
| New onset of papular pruritic eruption | 27 (29%) |
| New WHO stage 3 or 4 event while on ART | 17 (19%) |
| CD4 count the day blood for VL was drawn (cells/µl) (iqr) | 127 (70–188) |
| Hemoglobin the day blood for VL was drawn (g/dl) (iqr) | 12.9 (11.4–13.9) |
| WHO-immunological criteria: | |
| - Drop of CD4 below baseline | 55 (60%) |
| - CD4 below 100/µl after 1 year on ART | 27 (29%) |
| - ≥25% drop of CD4 from the on-treatment peak | 13 (14%) |
| - ≥50% drop of CD4 from the on-treatment peak | 71 (77%) |
| Number of immunological WHO criteria | |
| - 0 criteria | 1 (1%) |
| - 1 criteria | 37 (40%) |
| - 2 criteria | 46 (50%) |
| - 3 criteria | 8 (9%) |
IQR: inter-quartile range. ART: Anti-retroviral therapy. WHO: World Health Organization. HAART: Highly active anti-retroviral therapy. PMTCT: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission.