Missed medical visits predict virologic failure in a Peruvian MSM HIV clinic

2^nd International Conference on HIV/AIDS, STDs, & STIs

October 27-29, 2014 Embassy Suites Las Vegas, USA

Sciaudone M, Alave J, Valencia J, Leon M, Sanchez J, La Rosa A and Taiwo B

Posters: J AIDS Clin Res

Abstract :

Introduction: Retention in HIV care is crucial to achieving good clinical outcomes, yet there is scant data on retention in care of Latin American MSM populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between missed medical visits and virologic failure in MSM patients starting HAART. Methods: We reviewed medical records of MSM patients who started HAART between November 2010 and December 2012 at IMPACTA, a Peruvian HIV Clinic, and had more than one measure of HIV viral load 6 month after starting HAART. Three measures of missed medical visits (MMV) were defined: 1) visit constancy (VC), 2) missed visits (MV), and 3) appointment adherence (AA). Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between these measures of retention in care and virologic failure in the context of baseline socio-demographic and clinical factors. Results: We evaluated information from 286 patients. Forty patients did not meet criteria of study. Of the remaining 246 patients, 45 (18.3%) experienced virologic failure. Multivariate logistic regression showed a statistically significant association between all three retention parameters and virologic failure (p=0.003, 0.001, and 0.013 for MV, AA, and VC, respectively). Additionally, younger age and lack of high school education were associated with virologic failure (p=0.020 and 0.002 respectively). Conclusion: All three measures of MMV were associated with virologic failure in a MSM population from Lima, Peru. Interventions aimed at improving medical visit attendance could help prevent virologic failure and should be directed especially at young and uneducated patients.

Biography :

Sciaudone M is currently working at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. His Research experience includes Research Assistant in 2008 at Fundación INFANT, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2008-2010 Research Assistant at Georgetown University, Department of Pharmacology. He has published several papers in many reputed journals.