Effectiveness of same-day antiretroviral therapy initiation in retention outcomes among people living with human immunodeficiency virus in Ethiopia: empirical evidence

Background In August 2016, Ethiopia endorsed a universal “test and treat” strategy for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) based on World Health Organization recommendation. However, there is limited evidence on the routine application of the same-day “test and treat” recommendation in low-income settings. This study assessed the effect of same-day treatment initiation on individual-level retention at 6- and 12-months follow-up. Methods A multicenter facility-based retrospective cohort study was conducted to compare retention-in-care between PLHIV who started antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the same-day and those started ART > 7 days following HIV diagnoses. Participants were at least 15 years-old and were newly diagnosed and started on ART between October 2016 and July 2018 in 11 health facilities in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Multivariable logistic regression controlling for potential confounders and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used to assess differences in outcomes between the groups. Results In total, 433 PLHIV started ART on the same-day of diagnosis and 555 PLHIV who started ART > 7 days after HIV diagnosis were included in the study. At 6-months, 82.0% (355) in the same-day group vs 89.4% (496) in the > 7 days group were retained-in-care (absolute risk difference (RD) = 7.4%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.9–11.8%). At 12-months, 75.8% (328) in the same-day group vs 82.0% (455) in the > 7 days group were retained-in-care (absolute RD = 6.2%; 95% CI: 1.1, 11.4%). The major drop in retention was in the first 30 days following ART initiation among same-day group. After adjusting for baseline and non-baseline covariates, the same-day group was less likely to be retained-in-care at 6- and 12-months (adjusted risk ratio (RR) = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.87, 0.90 and adjusted RR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.89, respectively). Conclusions Reduced retention-in-care can threaten the benefit of the same-day “test and treat” policy. The policy needs to be implemented cautiously with greater emphasis on assessment and preparation of PLHIV for ART to ensure treatment readiness before starting them on same-day ART and close monitoring of patients during early follow-up periods.