High rates of patient attrition from care between HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation have been documented in sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to persistently low CD4 cell counts at treatment initiation. One reason for this is that starting ART in many countries is a lengthy and burdensome process, imposing long waits and multiple clinic visits on patients. We estimated the effect on uptake of ART and viral suppression of an accelerated initiation algorithm that allowed treatment-eligible patients to be dispensed their first supply of antiretroviral medications on the day of their first HIV-related clinic visit. RapIT (Rapid Initiation of Treatment) was an unblinded randomized controlled trial of single-visit ART initiation in two public sector clinics in South Africa, a primary health clinic (PHC) and a hospital-based HIV clinic. Adult (≥18 y old), non-pregnant patients receiving a positive HIV test or first treatment-eligible CD4 count were randomized to standard or rapid initiation. Patients in the rapid-initiation arm of the study (“rapid arm”) received a point-of-care (POC) CD4 count if needed; those who were ART-eligible received a POC tuberculosis (TB) test if symptomatic, POC blood tests, physical exam, education, counseling, and antiretroviral (ARV) dispensing. Patients in the standard-initiation arm of the study (“standard arm”) followed standard clinic procedures (three to five additional clinic visits over 2–4 wk prior to ARV dispensing). Follow up was by record review only. The primary outcome was viral suppression, defined as initiated, retained in care, and suppressed (≤400 copies/ml) within 10 mo of study enrollment. Secondary outcomes included initiation of ART ≤90 d of study enrollment, retention in care, time to ART initiation, patient-level predictors of primary outcomes, prevalence of TB symptoms, and the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. A survival analysis was conducted comparing attrition from care after ART initiation between the groups among those who initiated within 90 d. Three hundred and seventy-seven patients were enrolled in the study between May 8, 2013 and August 29, 2014 (median CD4 count 210 cells/mm³). In the rapid arm, 119/187 patients (64%) initiated treatment and were virally suppressed at 10 mo, compared to 96/190 (51%) in the standard arm (relative risk [RR] 1.26 [1.05–1.50]). In the rapid arm 182/187 (97%) initiated ART ≤90 d, compared to 136/190 (72%) in the standard arm (RR 1.36, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24–1.49). Among 318 patients who did initiate ART within 90 d, the hazard of attrition within the first 10 mo did not differ between the treatment arms (hazard ratio [HR] 1.06; 95% CI 0.61–1.84). The study was limited by the small number of sites and small sample size, and the generalizability of the results to other settings and to non-research conditions is uncertain. Offering single-visit ART initiation to adult patients in South Africa increased uptake of ART by 36% and viral suppression by 26%. This intervention should be considered for adoption in the public sector in Africa. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01710397, and South African National Clinical Trials Register DOH-27-0213-4177.

Increased mortality among men on antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been documented but remains poorly understood. We examined the magnitude of and risk factors for gender differences in mortality on ART. Analyses included 46,201 ART-naïve adults starting ART between January 2002 and December 2009 in eight ART programmes across South Africa (SA). Patients were followed from initiation of ART to outcome or analysis closure. The primary outcome was mortality; secondary outcomes were loss to follow-up (LTF), virologic suppression, and CD4+ cell count responses. Survival analyses were used to examine the hazard of death on ART by gender. Sensitivity analyses were limited to patients who were virologically suppressed and patients whose CD4+ cell count reached >200 cells/µl. We compared gender differences in mortality among HIV+ patients on ART with mortality in an age-standardised HIV-negative population. Among 46,201 adults (65% female, median age 35 years), during 77,578 person-years of follow-up, men had lower median CD4+ cell counts than women (85 versus 110 cells/µl, p<0.001), were more likely to be classified WHO stage III/IV (86 versus 77%, p<0.001), and had higher mortality in crude (8.5 versus 5.7 deaths/100 person-years, p<0.001) and adjusted analyses (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] 1.31, 95% CI 1.22–1.41). After 36 months on ART, men were more likely than women to be truly LTF (AHR 1.20, 95% CI 1.12–1.28) but not to die after LTF (AHR 1.04, 95% CI 0.86–1.25). Findings were consistent across all eight programmes. Virologic suppression was similar by gender; women had slightly better immunologic responses than men. Notably, the observed gender differences in mortality on ART were smaller than gender differences in age-standardised death rates in the HIV-negative South African population. Over time, non-HIV mortality appeared to account for an increasing proportion of observed mortality. The analysis was limited by missing data on baseline HIV disease characteristics, and we did not observe directly mortality in HIV-negative populations where the participating cohorts were located. HIV-infected men have higher mortality on ART than women in South African programmes, but these differences are only partly explained by more advanced HIV disease at the time of ART initiation, differential LTF and subsequent mortality, and differences in responses to treatment. The observed differences in mortality on ART may be best explained by background differences in mortality between men and women in the South African population unrelated to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary. About 34 million people (most living in low- and middle-income countries) are currently infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. HIV destroys CD4 lymphocytes and other immune system cells, leaving infected individuals susceptible to other infections. Early in the AIDS epidemic, most HIV-infected people died within 10 years of becoming infected. Then, in 1996, antiretroviral therapy (ART)—cocktails of drugs that keep HIV in check—became available. For people living in affluent countries, HIV/AIDS became a chronic condition. However, ART was expensive and, for people living in poorer countries, HIV/AIDS remained a fatal illness. In 2003, this situation was declared a global emergency, and governments and international agencies began to implement plans to increase ART coverage in resource-limited countries. Since then, ART programs in these countries have grown rapidly. In South Africa, for example, about 52% of the 3.14 million adults in need of ART were receiving an ART regimen recommended by the World Health Organization by the end of 2010. The outcomes of ART programs in resource-limited countries need to be evaluated thoroughly so that these programs can be optimized. One area of concern to ART providers is that of gender differences in survival among patients receiving treatment. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, men are more likely to die than women while receiving ART. This gender difference in mortality may arise because men initiating ART in many African ART programs have more advanced HIV disease than women (early ART initiation is associated with better outcomes than late initiation) or because men are more likely to be lost to follow-up than women (failure to continue treatment is associated with death). Other possible explanations for gender differentials in mortality on ART include gender differences in immunologic and virologic responses to treatment (increased numbers of immune system cells and reduced amounts of virus in the blood, respectively). In this multicenter cohort study, the researchers examine the size of, and risk factors for, gender differences in mortality on ART in South Africa by examining data collected from adults starting ART at International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS South Africa (IeDEA-SA) collaboration sites. The researchers analyzed data collected from 46,201 ART-naïve adults who started ART between 2002 and 2009 in eight IeDEA-SA ART programs. At ART initiation, men had a lower CD4 count on average and were more likely to have advanced HIV disease than women. During the study, after allowing for factors likely to affect mortality such as HIV disease stage at initiation, men on ART had a 31% higher risk of dying than women. Men were more likely to be lost to follow-up than women, but men and women who were lost to follow-up were equally likely to die. Women had a slightly better immunological response to ART than men but virologic suppression was similar in both genders. Importantly, in analyses of mortality limited to individuals who were virologically suppressed at 12 months and to patients who had a good immunological response to ART, men still had a higher risk of death than women. However, the gender differences in mortality on ART were smaller than the gender differences in age-standardized mortality in the HIV-negative South African population. These analyses show that among South African patients initiating ART between 2002 and 2009, men were more likely to die than women but that this gender difference in mortality on ART cannot be completely explained by gender differences in baseline characteristics, loss to follow-up, or virologic and/or immunologic responses. Instead, the observed gender differences in mortality can best be explained by background gender differences in mortality in the whole South African population. Because substantial amounts of data were missing in this study (for example, HIV disease stage was not available for all the patients), these findings need to be interpreted cautiously. Moreover, similar studies need to be done in other settings to investigate whether they are generalizable to the South African national ART program and to other countries. If confirmed, however, these findings suggest that the root causes of gender differences in mortality on ART may be unrelated to HIV/AIDS or to the characteristics of ART programs. Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001304.

There is little evidence comparing treatment outcomes between adolescents and other age groups, particularly in resource-limited settings. A retrospective analysis of data from seven HIV clinics across urban Gauteng ( n =5) and rural Mpumalanga ( n =2), South Africa was conducted. The analysis compared HIV-positive antiretroviral treatment (ART)-naive young adolescents (10–14 years), older adolescents (15–19), and young adults (20–24 years) to adults (≥25 years) initiated onto standard first-line ART between April 2004 and August 2010. Log-binomial regression was used to estimate relative risk (RR) of failure to suppress viral load (≥400 copies/ml) or failure to achieve an adequate CD4 response at 6 or 12 months. The effect of age group on virological failure, mortality, and loss to follow-up (LTFU; ≥90 days since scheduled visit date) was estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. Of 42,427 patients initiating ART, 310 (0.7%) were young adolescents, 342 (0.8%) were older adolescents, and 1599 (3.8%) were young adults. Adolescents were similar to adults in terms of proportion male, baseline CD4 count, hemoglobin, and TB. Compared to adults, both older adolescents (6 months RR 1.75 95% CI 1.25–2.47) and young adults (6 months RR 1.33 95% CI 1.10–1.60 and 12 months RR 1.64 95% CI 1.23–2.19) were more likely to have an unsuppressed viral load and were more likely to fail virologically (HR 2.90 95% CI 1.74–4.86; HR 2.94 95% CI 1.63–5.31). Among those that died or were LTFU, the median time from ART initiation until death or LTFU was 4.7 months (IQR 1.5–13.2) and 10.9 months (IQR 5.0–22.7), respectively. There was no difference in risk of mortality by age category, compared to adults. Young adolescents were less likely to be LTFU at any time period after ART initiation (HR 0.43 95% CI 0.26–0.69) whereas older adolescents and young adults were more likely to be LTFU after ART initiation (HR 1.78 95% CI 1.34–2.36; HR 1.63 95% CI 1.41–1.89) compared to adults. HIV-infected adolescents and young adults between 15 and 24 years have poorer ART treatment outcomes in terms of virological response, LTFU, and virological failure than adults receiving ART. Interventions are needed to help improve outcomes and retention in care in this unique population.

Objectives: To measure rates and predictors of virologic failure and switch to second-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in South Africa. Design: Observational cohort study. Methods: We included ART-naive adult patients initiated on public sector ART (January 2000 to July 2008) at 5 sites in South Africa who completed ≥6 months of follow-up. We estimated cumulative risk of virologic failure (viral load ≥400 copies/mL with confirmation above varying thresholds) and switching to second-line ART. Results: Nineteen thousand six hundred forty-five patients (29,935 person-years) had a median of 1.3 years of study follow-up (1.8 years on ART) and a median CD4 count of 93 (IQR: 39–155) cells per microliter at ART initiation. About 9.9% (4.5 per 100 person-years) failed ART in median 16 (IQR: 12–23) months since ART initiation, with median 2.7 months (IQR: 1.6–4.7) months between first elevated and confirmatory viral loads. By survival analysis, using a confirmatory threshold of 400 copies per milliliter, 16.9% [95% confidence interval (CI): 15.4% to 18.6%] failed by 5 years on ART, but only 7.8% (95% CI: 6.6% to 9.3%) using a threshold of 10,000. CD4 <25 versus 100–199 (adjusted HR: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.37 to 1.87), ART initiation viral load ≥1,000,000 versus <10,000, (1.32; 0.91 to 1.93), and 2+ gaps in care versus 0 (95% CI: 7.25; 4.95 to 10.6) were predictive of failure. Overall, 10.1% (95% CI: 9.0% to 11.4%) switched to second-line by 5 years on ART. Lower CD4 at failure and higher rate of CD4 decline were predictive of switch (decline 100% to 51% versus 25% to –25%, adjusted HR: 1.96; 95% CI: 1.35 to 2.85). Conclusions: In resource-limited settings with viral load monitoring, virologic failure rates are highly sensitive to thresholds for confirmation. Despite clear guidelines there is considerable variability in switching failing patients, partially in response to immunologic status and postfailure evolution.

Treatment outcomes for antiretroviral therapy (ART) patients may vary by gender, but estimates from current evidence may be confounded by disease stage and adherence. We investigated the gender differences in treatment response among HIV-positive patients virally suppressed within 6 months of treatment initiation. We analyzed data from 7,354 patients initiating ART between April 2004 and April 2010 at Themba Lethu Clinic, a large urban public sector treatment facility in South Africa. We estimated the relations among gender, mortality, and mean CD4 response in HIV-infected adults virally suppressed within 6 months of treatment initiation and used inverse probability of treatment weights to correct estimates for loss to follow-up. Male patients had a 20% greater risk of death at both 24 months and 36 months of follow-up compared to females. Older patients and those with a low hemoglobin level or low body mass index (BMI) were at increased risk of mortality throughout follow-up. Men gained fewer CD4 cells after treatment initiation than did women. The mean differences in CD4 count gains made by women and men between baseline and 12, 24, and 36 months were 28.2 cells/mm(3) (95% confidence interval [CI] 22.2-34.3), 60.8 cells/mm(3) (95% CI 71.1-50.5 cells/mm(3)), and 83.0 cells/mm(3) (95% CI 97.1-68.8 cells/mm(3)), respectively. Additionally, patients with a current detectable viral load (>400 copies/mL) and older patients had a lower mean CD4 increase at the same time points. In this initially virally suppressed population, women showed consistently better immune response to treatment than did men. Promoting earlier uptake of HIV treatment among men may improve their immunologic outcomes.

Objective: To compare patient retention at 3 stages of pre-antiretroviral (ART) care and 2 stages of post-ART care to identify when greatest attrition occurs. Design: An observational cohort study. Methods: We reviewed files of all adult nonpregnant individuals testing HIV-positive January 1–June 30, 2010, at a primary health clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa (N = 842). We classified retention in pre-ART stage 1 (HIV diagnosis to CD4 results notification in ≤3 months), pre-ART stage 2 (initially ineligible for ART with repeat CD4 test ≤1 year of prior CD4), pre-ART stage 3 (initiating ART ≤3 months after first eligible CD4 result), and at 0–6 and 6–12 months post-ART. Results: Retention among all patients during pre-ART stage 1 was 69.8% [95% confidence interval (CI): 66.7% to 72.9%]. For patients initially ART ineligible (n = 221), 57.4% (95% CI: 49.5% to 65.0%) returned for a repeat CD4 during pre-ART stage 2. Among those who were ART eligible (n = 589), 73.5% (95% CI: 69.0% to 77.6%) were retained during pre-ART stage 3. Retention increased with time on ART, from 80.2% (95% CI: 75.3% to 84.5%) at 6 months to 95.3% (95% CI: 91.7% to 97.6%) between 6 and 12 months. Cumulative retention from diagnosis to 12 months on ART was 36.9% (95% CI: 33.0% to 41.1%) for those ART eligible and 43.0% (95% CI: 36.4% to 49.8%) from diagnosis to repeat CD4 testing within one year among those ART ineligible. Conclusions: Patient attrition in the first year after HIV diagnosis was greatest before ART initiation: more than 25% at each of 3 pre-ART stages. As countries expand HIV testing and ART programs, success will depend on linkage to care, especially before ART eligibility and initiation.