High Rate of Mortality in Children and Youth with HIV Infection Compared to those with Diabetes in Tanzania

Background: Pediatric and youth diabetes mellitus (DM) and pediatric and youth human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are among the chronic diseases with significant public health implications and high mortality. The availability of mortality statistics in type 1 diabetes and HIV/AIDS is critical for addressing the two conditions in one setting. Objective: To compare the mortality of children and youth living with Diabetes (CYLDM) versus children and youth living with HIV (CYLHIV). Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional approach extracted data from registries of Tanzania Diabetes Association (TDA) and National AIDS Control Programme (NACP). Mortality was defined as death recorded in the registry. STATA version 14 was used for analysis. Results: A total of 3822 data for CYLDM and 33,941 CYLHIV were extracted. Almost fifty-one per cent (50.8%) and 27.2% were males CYLDM and CYLHIV respectively, mean age (SD) at diagnosis was 14 (± 5.8) and 9.4 (± 7.3) years for CYLDM and CYLHIV, respectively. Total death was 95 (3.0%) in CYLDM and 3718 (11%) in CYLHIV. Mean age (SD) at death was 17 (± 4.5) years for CYLDM and 11 (± 8) years for CYLHIV. The loss to follow up rate was 33.7% for CYLDM and 43.7% for CYLHIV. Conclusion: The estimated death rate was high in CYLHIV compared to CYLDM. Both conditions had a high rate of loss to follow up. This study serves as the basis for prospective studies to determine causes and possible mitigation against mortality and loss to follow up in these two chronic conditions.