The impact of late diagnosis on the survival of patients following their first AIDS-related hospitalization in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

• Published in: AIDS care 2012-05, Vol.24 (5), p.635-641
• Main Authors: Oliveira, Maria Tereza da Costa, Latorre, Maria do Rosario Dias de Oliveira, Greco, Dirceu Bartolomeu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - diagnosis; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - mortality; Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; AIDS; AIDS late diagnosis impact; AIDS prognostic factors; AIDS survival; AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - diagnosis; AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - mortality; AIDS/HIV; Anaemia; Antiretroviral drugs; Belo Horizonte; Biological and medical sciences; Brazil; Brazil - epidemiology; Capital cities; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; Cohort Studies; Death; Delayed Diagnosis - mortality; Delayed Diagnosis - statistics & numerical data; Diagnosis; Drug therapy; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hospitalization; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Hospitals; Human viral diseases; Humans; Immunodeficiencies; Immunodeficiencies. Immunoglobulinopathies; Immunopathology; Infectious diseases; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Medical treatment; Middle Aged; Minas Gerais; Miscellaneous; Mortality; Patients; Probability; Psychology and medicine; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Risk; Survival; Survival analysis; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0954-0121; 1360-0451
• DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2011.630347

The purpose of this study is to estimate the survival probability of patients following their first admission for the treatment of AIDS to an infectious disease reference hospital in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, during 2005. Study subjects were monitored during a 12-month period to identify factors associated with survival probability. Late diagnosis was recorded among many of the 250 study subjects: almost half (44.8%) were diagnosed less than 30 days prior to or during their hospitalization. A high mortality rate was also detected: 39.6% of the subjects died during the 12 months of monitoring. The cumulative survival probability of the cohort group was estimated at 68.0% after 3 months and at 61.2% after 12 months. However, certain patient subgroups analyzed had even lower cumulative survival probabilities after 12 months of monitoring: if diagnosed during hospitalization, it was estimated at only 48.0% and those with no record of antiretroviral treatment had a 48.5% cumulative survival probability. Patients with severe anemia had the lowest survival probability, similar among the two lymphocyte count groups (