Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
15
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-9-11
pubmed:abstractText
Two-thirds of the world's HIV-infected people live in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 1.5 million of them die annually. As access to antiretroviral treatment has expanded within the region; early pessimism concerning the delivery of antiretroviral treatment using a large-scale public health approach has, at least in the short term, proved to be broadly unfounded. Immunological and virological responses to ART are similar to responses in patients treated in high-income countries. Despite this, however, early mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa are very high; between 8 and 26% of patients die in the first year of antiretroviral treatment, with most deaths occurring in the first few months. Patients typically access antiretroviral treatment with advanced symptomatic disease, and mortality is strongly associated with baseline CD4 cell count less than 50 cells/mul and WHO stage 4 disease (AIDS). Although data are limited, leading causes of death appear to be tuberculosis, acute sepsis, cryptococcal meningitis, malignancy and wasting syndrome. Mortality rates are likely to depend not only on the care delivered by antiretroviral treatment programmes, but more fundamentally on how advanced disease is at programme enrollment and the quality of preceding healthcare. In addition to improving delivery of antiretroviral treatment and providing it free of charge to the patient, strategies to reduce mortality must include earlier diagnosis of HIV infection, strengthening of longitudinal HIV care and timely initiation of antiretroviral treatment. Health systems delays in antiretroviral treatment initiation must be minimized, especially in patients who present with advanced immunodeficiency.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
1473-5571
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:day
1
pubmed:volume
22
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1897-908
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2008
pubmed:articleTitle
Early mortality among adults accessing antiretroviral treatment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa.
pubmed:publicationType
Editorial, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural