Survival Analysis of Time to Death of HIV-Infected Patients under Antiretroviral Therapy in Tepi General Hospital, South West Ethiopia

Abstract Despite advancements in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, HIV continues to be a global problem. Antiretroviral therapy is a critical treatment that has been used to treat HIV-infected patients since 1996. Even though an increase in the number of patients enrolled in ART, the mortality rate for HIV cases in Ethiopia has never been overcome. Thus, this study aimed to identify influential factors of death of HIV-infected individuals received antiretroviral therapy at the Tepi General Hospital. The secondary data was extracted from each selected patient for whom the ART was initiated from September 2011 to June 2018. Then, Cox regression technique provided the essential determinants of time to death of HIV-infected patients. The findings revealed that 35.14 percent of HIV patients died despite being on ART. The identified causes of death were being over 40 years old, being in clinical stage IV, being uneducated, having a low body weight, and having a low CD4 cell count. Gender, tuberculosis status, and functional status, on the other hand, were not supported as factors. Thus, age over 40 years, being underweight, having a low baseline CD4 cell count, being in an advanced WHO clinical stage, and having a low education level were identified as critical risk factors that exposed to early death even while on ART. As a result, the hospital advised prioritizing patients based on the identified factors. Keywords: AIDS; Analysis; Biological modeling; Biological activities