Study: missed visits among HIV patients lead to increased mortality

A study of HIV patients in the United States has found that those who do not attend some of their hospital appointments in the first year of treatment have an increased risk of death.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that the rate of mortality increased more than two-fold for patients missing appointments within one year of beginning treatment.

The report does not suggest, however, that missed visits are "causally responsible" for the increased risk of death but that they "identify those patients who are more likely to exhibit health behaviours that portend increased subsequent mortality".

Over the course of the study, of the 543 studied patients who began treatment for HIV infection some 60 per cent missed at least one visit within the first twelve months.

The mortality rate for this group was 2.3 per cent, contrasting with a rate of one per cent for those who attended all their appointments.

This research is to be published in the January 15th edition of the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.