Survival Time of HIV-Infected Children Under 15 Years of Age after Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy: A Case Study in Bahir Dar
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Date
2011-11
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Addis Abeba university
Abstract
Even though the use of Antiretroviral treatment has made a marked influence on the survival
time of HIV-infected children, all children who received ART drugs do not have the desired
level of immune reconstitution. The objective of this study is to assess the survival time of HIVinfected
children after ART initiation and to identify factors other than ART that influence the
survival time of HIV-infected children who continuously followed ART at Felege-Hiwot
Hospital in Bahir Dar. In this study survival data analysis is used to assess survival length of 255
HIV-infected children who followed ART at Felege-Hiwot Hospital in Bahir Dar from 2006 to
2009 for 30 months. To compare the survival time of different groups of children defined by a
factor, Kaplan-Meier survival function and the Log-Rank test are used. Cox proportional hazards
model is used to model the relationship between significant explanatory variables and survival
time. Of the 255 children in the study 71(27.84%) died during the study period. The overall
estimated mean survival time of children was 22.381 months with standard error 0.693. Age
group, Hemoglobin group and WHO clinical stage of HIV- infected children have been found to
be significant factors that affect survival time of children. Therefore, special attention should be
given to younger children in ART, children should start ART treatment when they have higher
hemoglobin values and children should begin treatment when they are at a lower clinical stage
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Keywords
HIV-Infected Children Under 15 Years of Age