Monitoring retention in care: using multiple laboratory tests as an indicator for HIV medical care

Abstract

Retention in care is an important strategy for HIV prevention. Unfortunately, surveillance systems were not designed to capture face-to-face visits with HIV health care providers to assess retention in care. Instead, HIV-related laboratory tests are used as a surrogate measure. This study estimated the sensitivity (90%) and specificity (28%) of two HIV-related laboratory tests separated by at least 90 days for two face-to-face visits among people receiving HIV-related health care in Oregon. Overall accuracy of the surrogate was good but slightly overestimated the proportion of people living with HIV/AIDS actually retained in care.

Keywords:

• HIV surveillance
• retention in care
• CD4 lymphocyte count
• viral load

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the MMP survey participants and sampled HIV medical facilities for participating in MMP activities. We wish to thank Haiou He, MBA, Program Manager, of the Program Design & Evaluation Services, Oregon Public Health Division, Portland, Oregon, for her support in the investigation.

Funding

This work was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [#5U62 PS001612-02].

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [#5U62 PS001612-02].