Treatment outcomes of antiretroviral therapy among pediatric patients in a Zewditu Memorial Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

There are a few studies in resource-limited settings describing the various treatment outcomes and the factors that are associated with ART outcomes. Studies in the African region have reported tangible clinical benefits for early diagnosis and initiation of  ART such as low mortality and high survival time. This article presents the factors influencing the outcome of ART in children in order to find out possible ways of improvement in HIV treatment. This was a quantitative, analytical, and retrospective design of an electronic database of children enrolled on the ART program in Zewditu Memorial Hospital. The median age at initiation of ART was found to be 7.9 years, mortality rate 2.3 per 100 person-years, mean survival time 81 months; 53% died during the first 3 months of treatment initiation. The probability of survival at 24 months was 0.93. On univariate analysis, age, marital status of parents, parental survival, co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, WHO clinical stage, baseline functional status, weight-for-age and height-for-age were found tobesignificantlyassociatedwithdeath.Onadjustmentforconfounding,absenceofcotrimoxazoleprophylaxisandpoorbaselinefunctionalstatusremainedstrongpredictorsofmortality. This studyconfirmstheprophylacticeffectofco-trimoxazoleinreducingmortalityandmorbidity.SincechildrenwhowerebedriddenatinitiationofARTwereverymuchlikelytodieearlierthanthosewhowereactive,itcanbeconcludedthat earlyinitiationofARThasanenormousbenefitinprolonginglifeandimprovingthequalityoflifeoftheaffectedones.