RESEARCH ARTICLE
A Cluster-Randomised Trial to Compare Home-Based with Health Facility-Based Antiretroviral Treatment in Uganda: Study Design and Baseline Findings
Barbara Amuron1, Alex Coutinho2, Heiner Grosskurth1, 3, Christine Nabiryo2, Josephine Birungi2, Geoffrey Namara1, Jonathan Levin1, Peter G. Smith3, Shabbar Jaffar3 , *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2007Volume: 1
First Page: 21
Last Page: 27
Publisher ID: TOAIDJ-1-21
DOI: 10.2174/1874613600701010021
Article History:
Received Date: 29/10/2007Revision Received Date: 7/11/2007
Acceptance Date: 29/11/2007
Electronic publication date: 13/12/2007
Collection year: 2007
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The scale-up of antiretroviral therapy is progressing rapidly in Africa but with a limited evidence-base. We report the baseline results from a large pragmatic cluster-randomised trial comparing different strategies of ART delivery. The trial is integrated in normal health service delivery. 1453 subjects were recruited into the study. Significantly more women (71%) than men (29%) were recruited. The WHO HIV clinical stage at presentation did not differ significantly between men and women: 58% and 53% respectively were at WHO stage III or IV (p=0.9). Median CD4 counts (IQR) x 106cells/l were 98 (28, 160) among men and 111 (36, 166) among women. Sixty-four percent of women and 61% men had plasma viral load ≥100,000 copies. Baseline characteristics did not change over time. Considerably fewer men than women presented for treatment. Both men and women presented at an advanced stage with very low median CD4 count and high plasma viral load.
