Barriers to Initiation of Pediatric HIV Treatment in Uganda: A Mixed-Method Study
Table 2
Clinical and demographic characteristics of the “Monitoring of Antiretroviral Therapy in Children” cohort participants.
Overall
Study site
value
Kampala
Fort Portal
Mbale
Sex
Male
152 (49.8)
43 (47.3)
55 (49.1)
54 (52.9)
0.719
Age, median years (IQR)
4.8 (2.2–8.6)
4.0 (1.5–8.5)
4.2 (1.9–8.5)
5.8 (3.0–8.7)
0.127
Age groups
<2 years old
76 (24.8)
32 (35.2)
29 (25.9)
15 (14.6)
0.005
2–5 years old
84 (27.5)
18 (19.8)
37 (33.0)
29 (28.2)
5–12 years old
146 (47.7)
41 (45.1)
46 (41.1)
59 (57.3)
Age at (first) confirmed HIV+ test
Median (IQR)
3.7 (1.6–6.8)
3.0 (1.3–7.2)
3.3 (1.1–6.8)
4.5 (2.7–6.8)
0.264
WHO clinical stage
Stages 3 and 4
221 (72.2)
36 (39.6)
92 (82.1)
93 (90.3)
<0.001
HIV-TB coinfection
Pulmonary tuberculosis
31 (10.1)
18 (19.8)
6 (5.4)
7 (6.8)
0.001
Severe immunodeficiencya
CD4 count-for-age
67 (31.0)
36 (40.0)
9 (21.4)
22 (26.2)
0.047
CD4 %-for-age
102 (51.3)
57 (63.3)
18 (42.9)
27 (40.3)
0.008
Viral load, median log10 cps/mL (IQR)c
5.0 (4.4–5.5)
5.2 (4.7–5.6)
5.1 (4.2–5.5)
4.7 (4.1–5.3)
0.001
Main reason for ART initiationd
HIV diagnosis <24 months
30 (9.8)
20 (22.0)
9 (8.0)
1 (1.0)
<0.001
Immunological status
102 (33.3)
55 (61.4)
25 (22.3)
22 (21.4)
WHO clinical stage
174 (56.9)
16 (17.6)
78 (69.6)
80 (77.7)
Time between HIV test and ART initiation, median days (IQR)
<2 years old
43 (19–85)
40 (18–66)
48 (23–103)
43 (26–86)
0.299
2–5 years old
97 (26–400)
117 (34–309)
197 (29–546)
64 (15–180)
0.302
5–12 years old
258 (29–802)
242 (28–634)
296 (35–757)
216 (21–848)
0.474
PMTCT exposed
Yes
14 (4.6)
11 (12.1)
3 (2.7)
—
<0.001
Drugs for PMTCT
Single dose NVP
9 (2.9)
6 (6.6)
3 (2.7)
—
0.025
NVP
4 (1.3)
4 (4.4)
—
—
0.008
AZT
2 (0.7)
2 (2.2)
—
—
0.093
Unknown
1 (0.3)
1 (1.1)
—
—
0.306
Breastfeeding
Yes
24 (7.9)
10 (11.1)
12 (10.7)
2 (1.9)
0.023
“Is there enough food in the household?”
Yes
300 (98.0)
87 (95.6)
110 (98.2)
103 (100.0)
0.087
Data are presented as n (%) unless otherwise indicated.
aSevere immunodeficiency, defined as CD4 percentage < 25% or CD4 count < 1500 cps/mm3 below 12 months old, CD4 percentage < 20% or CD4 count < 750 cps/mm3 between 12 and 35 months old, and CD4 percentage <15% or CD4 count < 350 cps/mm3 above 35 months old.
bCD4 count based on ; CD4 percentage based on .
cViral load based on .
dMain reason for initiation as indicated by clinician.
