TITLE:
HIV Hospital Admissions Attributable to Specific Opportunistic Infections and Factors Associated with Them at a Botswana Referral Hospital
AUTHORS:
John Thato Tlhakanelo, Jose Gaby Tshikuka, Mooketsi Molefi, Mgaywa Gilbert Mjungu Damas Magafu, Tiny Masupe, Reginald Blessing Matchaba-Hove
KEYWORDS:
Botswana, People Living with HIV, Opportunistic Infections, Hospital Admissions
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of AIDS,
Vol.5 No.3,
August
31,
2015
ABSTRACT: Hospital admissions among people living
with HIV (PLWH) in Botswana are high. Opportunistic infections (OIs) are
responsible for most of these admissions. Although leading OIs causing these
admissions have been identified in the region, their correlates are poorly
understood. This study aimed to: 1) evaluate major OIs responsible for
admissions among HIV patients at Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) in Botswana; 2)
estimate the proportion and identify the most frequent admissions attributable
to specific OIs; 3) characterize major correlates of admissions attributable to
each specific OIs and identify populations most at risk as a base for effective
policy and resource orientation. HIV infected patients were randomly selected
from hospital record lists. Biomedical, sociodemographic and economic data were
collected from the records and from face-to-face patient interviews and
analyzed. Tuberculosis was the most important OI responsible for 234.6 per 1000
HIV admissions. Cryptococcal meningitis accounted for 162.0 per 1000
admissions. Patients with a CD4-cell count 350/μL and females. The risk of admission
due to cryptococcal meningitis was also high among patients with low
socioeconomic status (SES). Females were more at risk for Cryptosporidium,
Bacterial pneumonia (BP), Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP), Herpes and
candidiasis-specific admissions than male and, patients not on co-trimoxazole
were more likely to be admitted than those on co-trimoxazole. Comprehensive
implementation strategies to address OIs among PLWH are needed. To be
effective, such strategies should address not only biomedical factors but
should also focus on PLWH’s SES.