Abstract:
Background: Lost to follow up is defined as HIV patients on ART no visit in the past 90
consecutive days from their appointment. There was a growing concern about the
increasing rates of LTFU among people who were on HIV/AIDs treatment programs.
However little was known incidence of LTFU and its predictors in low resource settings
including Ethiopia and at the study area.
Objective: To assess incidence and predictors of lost to follow up among adults living
with HIV/AIDs at St. Luke Hospital, South West Shoa Zone, Oromia, and Central
Ethiopia in between 2016 -2020.
Methods: Four years of retrospective follow up study was conducted among 374 adults
on ART patient‟s .Sample size were determined using two population proportion formula.
Simple random sampling was used to select study participants. Data were entered into
Epi-info version 7.1 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 for further statistical analysis.
Bivariblecox regression analysis and multivariable cox regression analysis were fitted to
identify predicators of LTFU, then, variables with a p-value of <0.25 were entered into
multivariate cox regression analysis. Variables with P-value <0.05 were considered as
statistically significant predictors.
Results: Incidence rate of lost to follow up among adults living with HIV/AIDs was
found to be 7.7 per 1000 person-months of observation. Patients did not have a phone
(aHR = 3.65; 95 % CI: 1.89-7.02), patients poorly adhered to CPT (aHR=5.66; 95% CI:
2.33-13.73), patients who developed drug side effects (aHR= 8.17; 95% CI: 3.89-17.12)
patients came out of the catchment area (aHR =2.16; 95 % CI :( 1.20-3.87), daily laborer
(aHR= 3.65; 95% CI: 1.05-12.67) , merchants (aHR= 4.11 ;95% CI:1.13-14.95) , students
(aHR=5.17;95% CI: 1.46-18.33) , being house wife (aHR=11.34;95% CI:2.56-50.01)
have higher risk of LTFU than employed patients..
Patients no formal education (aHR=0.1;95% CI:0.02-.00.39 ), who had primary
education (aHR=0.086;95% CI 0.02-0.37) , who had secondary education
(aHR=0.085;95% CI 0.02-0.36) has less likely to LTFU than tertiary educated patients.
Conclusion and recommendations: Incidence rate of lost to follow up among adults
living with HIV/AIDs was found to be 7.7 per 1000 person- months. HIV Patients not
have a phone, patients came outside of the catchment area, Patients poorly adhered to
CPT, and patients who had develop drug side effects and daily laborer, merchants, house
wife, students and tertiary level educated patients had higher risk of being lost to follow
up than their other educational levels.
